Stolen iPhone found smartly

[caption id="attachment_74566" align="alignright" width="300"] TRACKED DOWN: Amakhala Game Reserve marketing manager Emily Stemmett receives her iPhone back from Walmer police station Warrant Officer Jacques Jerling, left, and Flying Squad Warrant Officer Gerhard van der Merwe hours after it was turned on and tracked to Kleinskool -[/caption]

Sharp police work and hi-tech app lead swiftly to Veeplaas

TECHNOLOGY trumped crime yesterday when a stolen cellphone was tracked to a Port Elizabeth house – two weeks after it went missing.

Port Elizabeth police tracked the iPhone, worth about R14 000, using a tracking application, after the phone was turned on.

The phone belongs to Amakhala Game Reserve marketing manager Emily Stemmett, 33. She said it was stolen about two weeks ago shortly after she upgraded her contract.

“I really don’t know when and where it was stolen but on Sunday an e-mail was sent to my work computer with the phone’s location. I saw it [yesterday] when I got to work and went to the Walmer police station with the location,” she said.

“I used the Track My iPhone app. Walmer police and Flying Squad then put me in a car and we tracked the location to a house in Ngwenda Street in Veeplaas, Kleinskool.”

Walmer police officer Warrant Officer Jacques Jerling said the back door was open when they arrived. “We went in and found a person sitting on the couch. We questioned him and, after denying having the phone, he handed it over,” he said.

-Gareth Wilson