New Hampshire man is victim of first recorded iPad theft

Someone has to be first, I suppose. Straight from the police iBlotter in Manchester, NH, the Union Leader reports that a broad-daylight iPad theft was perpetrated in the parking lot of a Best Buy on South Willow Street.

Mohamed Aboutaleb of Dover had just bought his new iPad in the store (capacity and accessories not known) when he was the victim of a shove-and-grab theft. The teenage thief then fled with Aboutaleb's magical and revolutionary shopping bag via a getaway car driven by another teenager.

While progress is being made on the iPad jailbreak (via Dev Team member MuscleNerd), these real-world lawbreakers are still unidentified and on the loose. Anyone with information about the iMugging is encouraged to contact the Manchester police department.

As a public safety reminder, whenever you are carrying easily-identifiable high value packages around (such as an Apple Store or other electronics chain shopping bag), be aware of your surroundings as you return your purchases to your car or if you are using public transport. Putting your new gadgets in the trunk and proceeding to do other shopping isn't advisable either.

To answer the question posed in comments: yes, you can activate MobileMe's location tools with your iPad to track it down, but that's not really an option if it's grabbed in the parking lot before you sync it up.

Thanks Marc!

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/banspy/ / CC BY 2.0