Man tracked Bradenton woman using Apple AirTag ‘as retaliation,’ police say
A Sarasota man has been convicted of illegally tracking a woman’s car using an Apple AirTag, according to court records.
Police arrested Steven Colon Sr., 57, last year after a woman alerted the Bradenton Police Department that she received an alert about a AirTag that had been tracking her, according to court records. Officers say they located the tracking device “stuffed in between the plastic covering in the wheel well,” according to an arrest report.
Colon was charged with installing or using a tracking device in March 2025. He pleaded no contest and waived his right to appeal in April, and Colon was sentenced to one year of supervised probation, according to court records.
The woman said she believed that the AirTag was put on her car by the family of Steven Colon Jr. “as retaliation,” according to the Bradenton Police Department.
In September 2022, someone in the woman’s family shot and killed Colon Jr. in an act that was ruled to be self-defense by the State Attorney’s Office and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, according to court records.
Using a subpoena, police received key information about who the device belonged to from Apple. Detectives say they discovered that the AirTag was registered to Colon, and that he was the only one receiving updates on its movement, court documents said.
Florida law constitutes tracking another person’s movement or location using a device without their consent as a third-degree felony.
