Just wow... thought this was a cool story, and so much doubting here. I'll try to address a few of the comments.
Seriously... I've been a member here for quite a while. Why would I post a paid story? My daughter lives 2 hours from me, and is in grad school. She was out with friends when this happened. She called me, because I am the techie in the family and she needed help. That's what daughters do when they have a problem... they call Dad.
I believe this probably varies from place to place, and situation to situation. He said that they have only ever done this once before to recover a phone. I believe that the fact that it was 3am worked in our favor, because not that many people were out and about. If the guy had gone into a house or an apartment, I'm sure it wouldn't have worked out like this.
The thief was standing in a gas station parking lot when they found him. Again, 3am... so pretty easy to spot. It was in what the cop described as a bad area of the city. The phone was stolen from the downtown high end part of the city, and he had gone several miles with it. I wasn't there, but I assume the guy acted suspicious then they approached him. I believe they just asked him if he had a phone and he pulled it out. My daughter described it to the cop at her house, and he confirmed it was hers. It still had a pink and purple case on it, which would be odd for a guy. She told them what picture was on the screen, and we had locked the phone remotely and gave them the passcode.
The guy said his buddy gave it to him and he didn't know it was stolen. He said they were riding in a cab together and got into an argument and he was kicked out of the cab. That matches the path of the tracking, as there was a long drive and then some odd moving around ending in the parking lot. He was alone, and on foot, and couldn't have gotten that far purely on foot. Also had an out of state driver's license.
I'm sure that cops can read people's body language and such.
As I said, it was 3am and the guy was standing in a gas station parking lot. There aren't a lot of people standing around at 3am. If it had been noon, they would have probably not started asking everyone in the parking lot if they had a phone. My guess is the guy looked suspicious.
We almost hit the "wipe" button a few times, fearing he'd figure out it was being tracked, over the 30-40 minutes we were tracking before the police showed up. I didn't think they would do anything, and thought we risked not being able to wipe it. But after the cop showed up and was talking to us, he realized the movement had slowed ... we actually thought it stopped, but I think the guy was on foot.... he said they'd send someone over to see if they saw anything. Maybe it was a slow night... not sure. No one was more shocked at this outcome than me. I could not image how they would use the location to recover it for the reasons mentioned. They can't start knocking on doors at 3am for a phone.
Here is a screen print of the whole path with the final green down where the guy was finally located. The original location it was taken from was inside the horseshoe shaped orange road just northeast of the first point where is started tracking... while they were in the taxi.
Not sure what else to say... just thought it was a cool story to share.
By the way, they did not arrest the guy. Because he denied he stole it, and my daughter did not see who took it, there was no proof he was the thief. They could have charged him with position of stolen property, but he said that would be a hard one because he could claim he didn't know. So we were happy to recover the phone and left it at that. I'm sure they scared the crap out of the guy, particularly because they pulled up and found him at 3am so far from where he started.
I can not buy this story, it has too many holes in it "daughter called father 1am in the morning because of loosing Iphone, phone was off and find myiphone still worked, cop came to her house and dispatching some other cop to the site for a stolen IPHONE ? " , is it a paid story by Apple or what ?
Seriously... I've been a member here for quite a while. Why would I post a paid story? My daughter lives 2 hours from me, and is in grad school. She was out with friends when this happened. She called me, because I am the techie in the family and she needed help. That's what daughters do when they have a problem... they call Dad.
The police wouldn't follow FindMyiPhone when my wife's iPhone 4S was stolen last summer.
I believe this probably varies from place to place, and situation to situation. He said that they have only ever done this once before to recover a phone. I believe that the fact that it was 3am worked in our favor, because not that many people were out and about. If the guy had gone into a house or an apartment, I'm sure it wouldn't have worked out like this.
Unless the thief pointed the gun and rob the Iphone, cops would had strong case to follow, but here his daughter lost her iphone, and cops had no reason to pursuit, what if that person at the gas station said "Well, I found the Iphone and on my way to return it to Police station" . Again, I can not not not to buy this story, it smells fishy and scam
The thief was standing in a gas station parking lot when they found him. Again, 3am... so pretty easy to spot. It was in what the cop described as a bad area of the city. The phone was stolen from the downtown high end part of the city, and he had gone several miles with it. I wasn't there, but I assume the guy acted suspicious then they approached him. I believe they just asked him if he had a phone and he pulled it out. My daughter described it to the cop at her house, and he confirmed it was hers. It still had a pink and purple case on it, which would be odd for a guy. She told them what picture was on the screen, and we had locked the phone remotely and gave them the passcode.
The guy said his buddy gave it to him and he didn't know it was stolen. He said they were riding in a cab together and got into an argument and he was kicked out of the cab. That matches the path of the tracking, as there was a long drive and then some odd moving around ending in the parking lot. He was alone, and on foot, and couldn't have gotten that far purely on foot. Also had an out of state driver's license.
I'm sure that cops can read people's body language and such.
I typically find these stories hard to believe even the ones in the "mainstream" media.
-How would the police know who had the phone. Did they stop every person at the gas station and check them? (or house, or apartment or what ever the location is for a particular similar story) Police can't enter pockets or force someone to empty their pockets unless they are under arrest. They can only pat a person down if they simply want to ensure their safety during a face to face. (if they do then that's their get out of jail free card). I didn't read all of OP's posts but I didn't see anything in the first post that said he played "sound" you can do when you're on FMi.
-I have family members with different agencies around the country and I have asked if they would "track" someones phone and they simply laughed. Maybe this police force has nothing better to do but I know in Miami, Orlando, Denver, I was told they don't have time or resources for such things.
-Why suspect a person stole the phone? Just because someone has something doesn't mean they stole it. I have picked up items and later found their owner to return said item.
-Police would have no reason to suspect this person stole the phone. I guess the could arrest them for being in posession of the phone but any $2 lawyer would get a person off on that. "Officer, I found this on the bus and was going to try and find the owner in the morning.... No I never heard it ring as it was in my (pocket, backpack, briefcase) and I was wearing headphones." Unless there is a "He grabbed it out of my hand while kicking my butt" story to go along with the "stolen" phone, I'm not sure an arrest would go very far.
I'm not saying OP is lying I simply stating these are the questions I ask myself with EVERY one of these stories. Want to call me cynical? I have no problem with that.
Glad it worked out for OP and his daughter.
As I said, it was 3am and the guy was standing in a gas station parking lot. There aren't a lot of people standing around at 3am. If it had been noon, they would have probably not started asking everyone in the parking lot if they had a phone. My guess is the guy looked suspicious.
We almost hit the "wipe" button a few times, fearing he'd figure out it was being tracked, over the 30-40 minutes we were tracking before the police showed up. I didn't think they would do anything, and thought we risked not being able to wipe it. But after the cop showed up and was talking to us, he realized the movement had slowed ... we actually thought it stopped, but I think the guy was on foot.... he said they'd send someone over to see if they saw anything. Maybe it was a slow night... not sure. No one was more shocked at this outcome than me. I could not image how they would use the location to recover it for the reasons mentioned. They can't start knocking on doors at 3am for a phone.
Here is a screen print of the whole path with the final green down where the guy was finally located. The original location it was taken from was inside the horseshoe shaped orange road just northeast of the first point where is started tracking... while they were in the taxi.
Not sure what else to say... just thought it was a cool story to share.
By the way, they did not arrest the guy. Because he denied he stole it, and my daughter did not see who took it, there was no proof he was the thief. They could have charged him with position of stolen property, but he said that would be a hard one because he could claim he didn't know. So we were happy to recover the phone and left it at that. I'm sure they scared the crap out of the guy, particularly because they pulled up and found him at 3am so far from where he started.
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