A woman's bold move resulted in the return of an iPhone stolen from a Grant Avenue business last Friday afternoon.
Andrew Linton, owner of Fife & Sons, was in the back of his shop around 5pm Oct. 23rd, doing some cutting for the handmade clothing he sells. He left his iPhone in the front, where he does the sewing and where his charger was located. Though he was only gone briefly, he went back to find his phone missing.
He used the Find My iPhone app and saw the phone already was in Union Square and it wasn't moving. "My girlfriend goes, 'I’m a faster runner than you; I'll go get it," Linton told us. A buddy of his went with her, and they hopped in a cab and took off.
"They get to Union Square, and when they approach, the phone starts moving up O’Farrell toward Jones into the Tenderloin," Linton told us. They set out for the area and saw two men walking on each side of the street. Either could be the culprit. "My girlfriend called the phone," he says.
One man was walking a dog; the phone rang in the other man's pocket. Linton's girlfriend approached him. "The guy’s like, 'That’s my phone; I just bought it,'" Linton said. His girlfriend, who's lived in Brooklyn and Oakland, became good at assessing people and situations, he said. She confronted him and demanded the phone back. The man threw the phone in the air and she retrieved it.
Linton said the man who had the phone wasn't the same man who stole it, and that someone might've taken it to Union Square and quickly sold it to the man who had it in his possession. The store's security camera recorded a video showing an African-American man with low-slung shorts, a dark shirt and a baseball cap taking the phone, but the man who had it didn't fit that description.
Video: Courtesy of Andrew Linton
Linton has since moved his phone charger to the back of his shop and urges other business owners and customers to keep their possessions in sight at all times. "You only have to turn around for 10 seconds," Linton said.
Whether it's a laptop left on a table at a coffee shop, a purse slung over the back of a chair at a restaurant while you go to the counter or a phone left on a bar while you're in the bathroom, it can go missing faster than you'd expect. Sgt. Rich Jones of SFPD Central Station said unfortunately, it happens often, and prevention is the number one way to protect yourself.
Jones suggests thinking of your property in terms of its value. "You certainly wouldn’t leave $600 laying out on a table," he told us. "You’d keep that on your person. We recommend people keep that in a place that’s safe; on their person."
He also recommends that business owners have security cameras. "They’re so accessible now; they’re inexpensive and they help us out immensely," he said. But one common mistake is positioning them too high. "Mounting a camera on face level” is key, he said: Place it at about five foot five to six feet so it will capture faces. "A lot of folks will take their cameras and put them way up high," he said, and if a thief wears a hat or a hood, it obscures his or her face.
Jones suggests learning to use Find My iPhone (and not forgetting your password) so the police can help ensure a safe return of the phone. He also warns against taking matters into your own hands. "Call the police first and foremost," he said. People are not prepared to approach criminals and don't have the resources, so instead, "Be a good witness. Tell us what you know."
