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Officers Track Carprowl Victim’s Cellphone to Greenbelt

Officers returned a man’s stolen cellphone early Wednesday after following its digital trail into the woods near the International District.

Around 3 AM, a man flagged down officer John Chesney in the 900 block of South Dearborn Street and said he’d just returned to his car to find his cellphone missing and mud smeared throughout the interior of the vehicle.

The man said he’d contacted his daughter, who was able to activate the phone’s Find My iPhone feature and mapped the phone’s location to a wooded greenbelt a few blocks away.

Officers Chesney and Elliott Averett arrived at the location and found a tent underneath a grove of trees, and called out to see if anyone was inside.

A man emerged from the tent, told officers he did indeed have an iPhone in his tent. The car prowl victim’s daughter remotely set off an alarm on the phone, which began buzzing and shaking in the suspect’s hand.

Officers arrested the 46-year-old suspect for possession of stolen property and booked him into the King County Jail.