A Long Beach resident recovered his stolen car after hiding an Apple Airtag in his trunk as a precaution.
Philip Obando said he left his house and his car disappeared. He immediately called the police and hopped on the Airtag app on his phone to track the car, where he noticed it was only a few blocks away.
Obando and his wife followed the car until the Airtag froze, but took it back in the afternoon when they spotted it near a gas station.
“My wife says, ‘Here’s the car!’ The person is filling up. She said, ‘Get out of the car and go get her and I jumped out of the car,'” Obando said.
Obando confronted the man as his wife locked the car at the gas pump: “I had an extra key fob, click it, the car beeped and that’s when the guy said ‘Oh, oh man…’ and he ran away,” he said.
Obando said the man left drug paraphernalia inside the car and while viewing the dashcam video, he saw the man driving around his neighborhood, down alleys, exchanging the license plates and even take the vehicle to the car wash.
The dashcam video also showed the man taking a second one and bragging about the theft.
“It’s a bimmer, it’s a bimmer…boom!” I’m going to park this one somewhere and pick up the other one tomorrow,” the suspect said.
The other vehicle he was referring to was Obando’s wife’s car, where the man found the key fob to her car.
Police data shows 78 cars were stolen in North Long Beach between January 1 and April 20.
After confronting the man, Obando said he found the suspect’s wallet with his driver’s license inside. When he checked the address on the permit, Obando discovered it was a neighbor.
“We looked up her address and unfortunately, she’s really not far from us. It’s scary,” Obando said.
Obando gave the wallet and the entire video to the police, who advised him never to confront a suspected thief for safety reasons.
NBC4 reached out to Long Beach police to see if any arrests had been made, but have not yet received a response.
A Long Beach resident recovered his stolen car after hiding an Apple Airtag in his trunk as a precaution.
Philip Obando said he left his house and his car disappeared. He immediately called the police and hopped on the Airtag app on his phone to track the car, where he noticed it was only a few blocks away.
Obando and his wife followed the car until the Airtag froze, but took it back in the afternoon when they spotted it near a gas station.
“My wife says, ‘Here’s the car!’ The person is filling up. She said, ‘Get out of the car and go get her and I jumped out of the car,'” Obando said.
Obando confronted the man as his wife locked the car at the gas pump: “I had an extra key fob, click it, the car beeped and that’s when the guy said ‘Oh, oh man…’ and he ran away,” he said.
Obando said the man left drug paraphernalia inside the car and while viewing the dashcam video, he saw the man driving around his neighborhood, down alleys, exchanging the license plates and even take the vehicle to the car wash.
The dashcam video also showed the man taking a second one and bragging about the theft.
“It’s a bimmer, it’s a bimmer…boom!” I’m going to park this one somewhere and pick up the other one tomorrow,” the suspect said.
The other vehicle he was referring to was Obando’s wife’s car, where the man found the key fob to her car.
Police data shows 78 cars were stolen in North Long Beach between January 1 and April 20.
After confronting the man, Obando said he found the suspect’s wallet with his driver’s license inside. When he checked the address on the permit, Obando discovered it was a neighbor.
“We looked up her address and unfortunately, she’s really not far from us. It’s scary,” Obando said.
Obando gave the wallet and the entire video to the police, who advised him never to confront a suspected thief for safety reasons.
NBC4 reached out to Long Beach police to see if any arrests had been made, but have not yet received a response.