Manchester man accused of stalking ex-girlfriend by hiding Apple AirTags in belongings

A Manchester man has been arrested on stalking charges for allegedly planting Apple AirTags on his ex-girlfriend and a teenage boy close to her to “keep her under surveillance.”

Jason Smith, 36, faces two counts of electronic stalking-causing emotional distress to a person after his ex found two AirTags — which are capable of tracking one’s location through GPS — hidden in her clothing and a teenage child’s bag, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Smith, the affidavit said, called police on March 19 and said “his wife had been having episodes of screaming for a month.” Police identified the woman in the document as his ex-girlfriend.

Police said Smith was hesitant to give police more information before hanging up.

When officers arrived at the home, the woman said she was on the phone with a victim’s advocate trying to find somewhere else to live, as she no longer wanted to stay at the residence because Smith “would often track her devices” and “know where she was without telling him,” according to the affidavit.

The advocate found a “safe house” where the victim could stay, police wrote. Three days later, the woman contacted Manchester police and said she felt an object in her jacket and cut into the fur portion of the hood, discovering an Apple AirTag, the affidavit said. Investigators found that the last four digits of the phone number associated with the AirTag matched the number Smith used to call the police department days earlier.

The woman told police she and Smith had previously given an AirTag to a teenager — whose relationship to the victim is not specified in the warrant — when he would visit his father because of a “past incident,” according to the affidavit. She never agreed, however, to have the GPS devices put in her belongings.

Three days later, the victim contacted the police again and said she had found another hidden AirTag. The teenage boy had gone to Smith’s home to pick up the victim’s mail and, upon returning, had an AirTag in his book bag, the affidavit said. The woman told police she suspected Smith had put the device in the teen’s bag while he was retrieving the mail, according to the affidavit.

Smith was arrested on April 26 and released on a $25,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on June 14.