Truck driver pleads guilty to stealing iPhones and iPads from interstate shipments in Louisiana
A 31-year-old truck driver from Greensboro, Alabama, pleaded guilty to federal charges of theft from an interstate shipment after officers found more than 200 stolen items worth over $30,000, including iPhones, iPads and headphones, in his Baton Rouge apartment, prosecutors said.
The driver entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson in the Middle District of Louisiana, admitting two counts: stealing from an interstate shipment and possessing goods stolen from one, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Nov. 10. In late 2025 and early 2026 he drove for a transportation company hired by a large international logistics firm. That firm hauled merchandise from a major U.S. retailer's warehouse outside Louisiana to stores across the state, and the driver often hauled freight from a Baton Rouge distribution hub to a store in Gonzales.
In January 2026 the retailer's fraud investigators saw a sharp rise in goods that left for the Gonzales store and never turned up. They brought in larceny detectives from the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office. In early February officers searched an apartment the driver rented in Baton Rouge and found more than 100 items taken from Gonzales shipments, among them iPhones, iPads and about 50 pairs of wireless headphones. Prosecutors said evidence also showed that a few days earlier he had pulled a new iPhone 17 Pro Max out of a Texas shipment bound for a store in Prairieville.
Under 18 U.S.C. 659, stealing goods worth $1,000 or more from an interstate shipment carries up to 10 years in prison. The law treats freight as interstate all the way from origin to the final destination on the waybill, temporary stops included, so a load waiting at a hub is still covered. The release gave no sentencing date. Homeland Security Investigations and the sheriff's office handled the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan A. Stevens is prosecuting.
Why it matters: Taking even part of a load is a federal crime once the freight crosses state lines, with up to 10 years in prison when the goods are worth $1,000 or more. Here the retailer's own fraud team found the losses by tracking one store's deliveries.
Sources
- Alabama man pleads guilty to theft from an interstate shipment and possession of goods stolen from an interstate shipmentU.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Louisiana, Nov 10
- Alabama truck driver admits to theft of $30K worth of items from interstate shipments of high-end electronicsCDLLife, Nov 10