Police ended a three-month investigation into the theft of 330 iPhones from the Apple Store in Salem when the two suspects in the case were arrested and charged with felony theft by unauthorized taking.

Christopher Nashed, 22, of Sandown and Joshua Garrard, 28, of Methuen, Mass., were both employed at the store at the time of the Dec. 22 theft. The two were arrested on Wednesday, March 26.

Surveillance cameras at the store caught footage of the two suspects entering the store on Dec. 22 at around 12:30 a.m. and stockpiling the boxes of phones.

The missing phones, with a total retail value of $132,468, according to police reports, also showed up in the store’s inventory check.

In his affidavit, Salem police Sgt. Steve Malisos, assigned to the case, discovered Garrard and Nashed had sold upwards of 700 iPhones to a frequent customer of the store.

“We’re alleging that they stole the phones and then resold them to a person who sells them on the secondary market,” said Deputy Chief Bill Ganley.

The third party, according to police, is not being charged because he was unaware of the theft, according to the police.

“In this case, the person receiving the phones didn’t know they were stolen. He thought they were legitimate,” said Ganley.

In a taped interview, the third party acknowledged that pre-paid gift cards were used to purchase several hundred iPhones so they could be sold on the secondary market.

According to an affidavit prepared by Malisos, Garrard and Nashed would purchase the iPhones and the third party would reimburse Garrard’s Bank of America account.

On Dec. 22, the third party said Garrard and Nashed offered him the tall order of 330 iPhones, saying they would special order it and that payment could be taken care of when the order came in, according to the affidavit.

Still photos from surveillance cameras at a FedEx Kinko’s in Peabody, Mass., show the three men involved and one unidentified male unloading the phones days later, Malisos wrote in the affidavit.

Usually, Garrard and Nashed would produce a receipt for the iPhones, the buyer told police in the interview.

This time, there was no receipt, which the third party thought was strange. According to the affidavit, the buyer made several attempts to obtain a receipt from the two suspects.

Ganley said Apple has its own restriction that you can only buy five iPhones at a time to cut down on secondary market sales, and a phenomenon has surfaced in which people solicit other customers to purchase the phones for them.

After being arraigned at Lawrence District Court in Lawrence, Mass., Garrard, also facing fugitive from justice charges, is fighting extradition and is being held in the Essex County House of Corrections in Middleton, Mass.

Nashed was arraigned in Exeter District Court on Thursday, March 27, where his bail was continued at $250,000. His probable cause hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, April 2, in Salem District Court.