One afternoon in November 2012, three boys approached a 16-year-old girl who was talking to someone on her iPhone 4S in Prospect Park, snatched the iPhone from her and ran out of the park.
The girl contacted Officer Denisse Pacheco for help. Unfortunately, the thieves were not found in or around the park, but the police kept searching for them.
One of the thieves ran from the park and tried to sell the stolen iPhone to a man walking down the street. The man realized the iPhone was stolen, grabbed it from the thief and ran off. The thief then flagged down a nearby police car and filed a complaint with Officer Arnoldo Martinez. The officers arrested the second thief and took him to jail. Now both thieves were in police custody.
Officer Denisse Pacheco called the phone's number to speak to the thief. Sgt Arnoldo Martinez answered the call, and the officers pieced together what had happened. They returned the iPhone to the girl, who was very happy to get her expensive phone back. The original thief was put behind bars.
The officers also showed the owner how to locate her iPhone using the Find My iPhone service, which works with GPS tracking. Aside from Operation ID, they also conducted sting operations in the nearby subway to arrest people trying to sell stolen smartphones and other electronic devices.