iPhone Thief Outsmarted at Coachella Music Festival The tech-savvy music lovers fired up the Find My iPhone app and chased the alleged thief around the Indio, Calif., venue until security workers could nab him.
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Music festivals are all about good times, but there's one thing that can instantly kill your vibe: having your smartphone stolen.
A bunch of Coachella-goers found themselves in this less-than-ideal scenario over the weekend, but instead of pouting about not being able to Snapchat or text their friends, they got smart. According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, the tech-savvy music lovers fired up the Find My iPhone app and chased the alleged thief -- Reinaldo De Jesus Henao, 36, of New York -- around the Indio, Calif., venue until security workers could nab him.
"Enough people pinpointed it to this person, they notified security, they looked around, they saw a person with a backpack, they detained him and then they called us," Indio Police Department public information officer Sergeant Dan Marshall told LAist. "When we got there, we discovered these hundred-plus cellphones in his backpack."
Henao was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property. Around 20 of the stolen phones were returned to their rightful owners; the rest were left at lost and found.
The incident is a good reminder of how helpful Find My iPhone can be; if you use an Apple smartphone, it would be wise to take a second and make sure it's set up on your device.
Over the years, Find My iPhone has gotten lots of people out of bad situations. In 2014, a California woman who drove her car into a 500-foot ravine was rescued after her family and one clever police officer were able to determine her location via Find My iPhone.
