Man uses iPhone to track down thief

QUINCY, Mass. -- A local man turned to technology to help track down a thief.

Someone stole Sanjay Bhalla’s iPhone right out of his locker at the Quincy YMCA.

When he realized the phone was missing, Bhalla logged on to a computer at the YMCA and activated the GPS system.

However, there was no signal. The phone had been turned off.

Bhalla tried again when he got home. To his surprise, the phone had been turned on and the tracking began.

“You could see the steps he was taking and the direction he was going and that’s what we were giving to police,” said Pooja Bhalla, Sanjay’s wife.

When officers arrived at the suspect’s house, they were pleasantly surprised.

“There’s a red dot that would beep on his screen and it gave the street addresses as to where the phone was. You could see it going down the street, much like a bouncing ball going down the street. It was a red dot and it was his phone,” said a Quincy police officer.

Police arrested the 15-year-old suspect and found two stolen wallets along with the iPhone.

“It was a perfect storm for the suspect, unfortunately he helped us by having the GPS in his pocket,” the officer said.

(Copyright (c) 2009 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)