NAUGATUCK — Police said they have arrested a Waterbury man after he allegedly used an Apple AirTag to track a victim’s car in what they described as a domestic incident.
Wilfred Gonzalez was charged Sunday with first-degree stalking and violation of a protective order, Naugatuck police said. Both offenses are felonies. The 27-year-old was also charged with misdemeanor breach of peace.
Police said they were dispatched Sunday for a “reported domestic dispute” to an address in Naugatuck, and an investigator “discovered the accused placed a tracking device… in the victim’s vehicle.”
Gonzalez was released on $10,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Online court records indicate no plea has been entered in the case, and Gonzalez is next due in court on March 30.
The tiny disk-shaped devices, which cost around $30 and rely on a Bluetooth signal Apple’s network of devices pick up to track its location, are marketed as a way for people to keep track of their belongings.
But the trackers also have been tied to stalking cases and suspected car theft attempts, where the devices are used to track vehicles thieves may wish to steal, raising concerns among privacy advocates.
Apple says iPhone users will receive a notification if an AirTag that does not belong to them is tracking their location, which gives them the option to disable the device’s tracking feature. Android users can see if they’re being tracked through the Tracker Detect app, which can force an AirTag to emit a sound if its detected near a user.
