4.09.2012

CSI...Here I Come!

{this is the pic she posted the day it was stolen...
telling the world he couldn't take her smile away!}


This is definitely a story worth telling.
I should have been CSI...seriously.

If your child's cell phone is ever stolen while at school....
you might not want to turn it off.

That was the suggestion by the dean's office secretary when I called and reported that Kaia's cell phone had been stolen a week and a half ago. She said another parent left the service in place and they were lucky and were able to track a phone call made with the phone after a few weeks had passed by linking the number to the kid at the school who had stole it.

Since Kaia's was stolen in her 3rd period classroom there was a limited amount of kids that it could be.
We left her service on and then waited and watched.
We had not installed the tracking device but Verizon Wireless walked me through how to watch 'usage' online through the 'My Verizon' tab!

I checked it every few days. The person was turning the cell phone on, receiving all our texts and so far had only made one phone call that lasted one minute.
When we called that number they said that person calling was the wrong number.
I couldn't argue much with him because it was only a 1 minute long call.
So we left that kid alone.

Last night while sitting around after Easter dinner....I decided to check 'usage' again.
This time, the kid made two phone calls to the same number just the night before. The first called lasted 5 minutes and the second 3 minutes and they were just 5 minutes apart.
It listed the number and the town that call was made to.

At first we wanted to call the number but then decided against it because we didn't want to raise anymore red flags. So instead I did what any private investigator would do and I did a Reverse Telephone Number look-up that cost me $1.99.

We got the person's name and town in which they lived. Which was not Napa.
Kaia and her cousin quickly got on Facebook to see if they could find that person.
BINGO. The person came up living in the town listed and was born in 1976.
Putting two and two together we decided that it could be the kid's mother.

Kaia had a feeling which kid it might be, but didn't want to blame anyone without really knowing.
There was a boy sitting by all the backpacks that day in class not participating.
She had run over and put her phone in her backpack because it kept falling out of her back pocket during choir/dance class. She was sure he had watched her. But wanted to trust her classmates.

After confirming on Facebook the first information, Kaia finally said the boy's name out loud.
Her and her cousin got on Facebook and the boy's town was listed as the same out of town listing as the woman's. BINGO a second time. This was enough evidence for me to take to the school officer.
It didn't help the kid that he and the woman were friends on Facebook.

I went in this morning with all my info in hand.
I gave them the suspected kid's name and the name and telephone number that the kid had called.
I asked them if they could check his school records to see if there was a connection.
I'm not sure what was done at the school....but I know I must have given them great information!
The kid was called in by the school/officer
and Kaia now has her cell phone back!!

Except the JERK deleted EVERYTHING she said.
Her pictures, contacts, music....EVERYTHING she said was gone.
Only his crappy music and three of his contacts were on the phone!

I'm sure once she gets everything back familiar to her, she will be a happy happy girl!!
Thank you FACEBOOK info.



post signature

18 comments:

  1. So glad that she got it back! I just don't understand kids who feel so entitled to take others things.... so sad. Hope she has a good time making new memories on her phone!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good news! And good thinking about not turning off the service. He's lucky that he wasn't charged with theft -- because an iPhone is usually worth more than $400 I think the case could have been considered felony theft instead of a misdemeanor.
    Either way, the best ending is just getting the phone back!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love it!
    Go April and Kaia!
    I see a mother-daughter detective agency in the future!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah!!! So glad you were able to track it. Is there any punishment for him? Stealers really get me mad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! Great story!! I'll be remembering this one, for sure! We have a 13 year old with a phone and I'm sure there are kids who would love to get their hands on it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is fabulous! I love your family!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Has she a backup on the computer? Then there should be saved all contacts, photos, music, messages ect! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good for you - and what a smart family and instinct you guys have. Glad she got her phone back.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had a kid steal my iPhone at the kids school during a back to school BBQ. I was told by my police friends not to turn the service off as well and we did the same thing - watched all the calls and texts he made with my number. I called some of the numbers and they would all go to voicemail, but one girl called me back. I basically told her if she did not tell me the name of the kid that had my phone I was turning her over to the police (even though I didn't know her name). She freaked out and told me his name. I called my police friend and he was able to get my phone back for me. The twerp had deleted all my photos and contacts too and had uploaded over 500 songs! The worst part was when the police showed up at his house to get it back the father had my phone in his pocket. The apple does not fall far from the tree!

    ReplyDelete
  10. wow that is wonderful that you got it back! great detective work. too sad that this is what kids will do for a phone, and how sad that your girl lost all of her stuff...

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's fantastic! Sorry all her great stuff was gone, but the phone is back and that's the most important part! Great job!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That is awesome. I am so happy for Kaia. So, what happens to the kid? Does he get arrested? Does he get charged with theft? Tristan and Kirra have had phones and iPods stollen at vintage and it just infuriates me! So happy happy happy for Kaia though!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awesome! :) I love this kind of stuff and have also said before that I would love to have Garcias job at CSI :)

    So glad she got her phone back! But too bad that all her files were gone :(

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice job! That stinks that all of her personal stuff was gone!
    Sleuthing is so much fun, especially when it works out like this did!

    ReplyDelete
  15. YAY! SO happy that it was returned to her! Losing her information, while annoying is a small price to pay compared to a new phone. People can be SUCH jerks. I'm sad that she's learning that at such a young age.

    You are INCREDIBLE and definitely belong on CSI.

    ReplyDelete

I heart comments! Just one rule that I'm sure your momma taught you...if you don't have anything nice to say...please don't say anything at all!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...