iPad Pinky Ripper Pleads Guilty

Here’s the latest twist in the story of an early iPad buyer who had his pinky torn so a thief could get his hands on Apple’s must-have device.

Brandon Smith, 22, pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated robbery and second-degree assault, the Denver District Attorney’s Office announced.

The plea isn’t completely out of nowhere: the scales were looking weighted after Smith reportedly thought his theft case would go away if the victim was ‘eliminated.’

Starting from square one: In 2010, Bill Jordan, had part of his finger amputated after Brandon Smith wrested a just-purchased iPad from him in the parking lot outside Denver’s Cherry Creek Mall store in April.

The Apple bag was looped around Jordan’s hand and the thief jerked hard several times to get it off — so hard that flesh came of Jordan’s left pinky.

A surgeon later had to amputate part of the damaged little finger on his dominant hand. In a jail interview last summer, Smith said he started stealing when he was 15 to support a heroin and meth habit.

Via KDVR

Nicole Martinelli

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.