On Nov. 8, 2024, two individual victims responded to the Key West Police Department upon receiving a cell phone notification alerting them that an unrecognized Apple AirTag was detected near them and tracking their location.
An AirTag is a Bluetooth tracking device designed to help people find their personal belongings to which the tag is attached. Shortly after the product was launched in 2021, reports of bad actors using the quarter-sized tracking device to allegedly stalk others prompted Apple to review its security measures. In June of that year, Apple updated its existing security measures so a user’s phone would notify them if an unknown AirTag was moving with them.
The victims each reported receiving iPhone notifications shortly after leaving Overseas Market shopping plaza in the early morning hours.
One of the victims used the “play sound” feature in the notification and began hearing a beep-like noise that grew louder as she approached the rear passenger side of her vehicle. The victim crawled under her vehicle, where she found a magnetic device, wrapped in black duct tape, containing an AirTag, in her wheel well.
The AirTag on the second victim’s vehicle was located by police, concealed in a similar makeshift magnetic contraption, attached to a spare tire on the rear undercarriage of their vehicle. Both devices were discovered to have been deactivated around the time each victim arrived at the Key West Police Department.
The Key West Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit worked with local agents from the Department of Homeland Security to identify the subscriber information associated with each device. These efforts lead to the identification of 52-year-old Mariusz Swiecicki of Key West.
On Jan. 3, detectives went to Swiecicki’s home.
During their interview with Swiecicki, detectives allowed him to review the evidence collected against him during their investigation. Swiecicki confessed to placing the AirTags on each of the victims’ vehicles and was arrested.
Swiecicki has been charged with two counts of installation or use of tracking devices, a third-degree felony.
This investigation is ongoing. In an attempt to identify motive and/or any additional victims, the Key West Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit is asking the community to come forward if they know Swiecicki and/or recently received notification of an unknown AirTag detected near them.
