Crime & Safety

GPS Phone Tracking Leads to Suspected Car Thief

Police determined the vehicle location by using GPS coordinates of the victim's cell phone within the stolen car.

tracked down a stolen vehicle, along with the alleged thief, by using real-time GPS coordinates of the victim's cell phone in the car.

That high-tech investigative work led to the Saturday arrest of 41-year-old Richard Moore of Chesterfield Township. Moore was arraigned Monday in on charges of unlawfully driving away automobile and second-offense driving while license suspended, according to Chesterfield Detective Sgt. Deron Myers. 

At approximately 6 p.m. Saturday, a 53-year-old township resident reported to police that her running vehicle was stolen from a driveway on Wand Street near Jefferson Ave. A responding officer soon learned the victim's purse and cell phone were inside the vehicle at the time, Myers said in a news release.

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Dispatchers contacted the cell phone service provider. The phone company then gave police real-time GPS coordinates of the cell phone--and missing vehicle--location. Discovering the phone and vehicle were heading north on Gratiot near 27 Mile, township police called nearby agencies to alert them. Within minutes, a Michigan State Police trooper and a St. Clair County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped the vehicle and placed Moore under arrest, he said.  

Moore, who is shirtless in his booking photo, faces up to six years imprisonment upon conviction of the two charges, one felony and one misdemeanor. He is being held in Macomb County Jail in lieu of a $10,000 cash bond, police said.

Find out what's happening in New Baltimore-Chesterfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Police could not immediately be reached for further details.


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