Some people are born with very specific natural skills. Some are creative and excel in art while others are gifted athletes and dominate in sports. Ronaldo De Jesus Henao has a much more specific talent: He’s apparently very, very good at stealing smartphones. The thief was recently apprehended after finally being tracked down while in possession of a whopping 130 stolen smartphones, and it was all thanks to Apple’s built-in phone locator software, Find My iPhone.
Henao’s phone-stealing spree was carried out at the music and tech festival Coachella, where his apparently well-honed phone-stealing skills began to spark discussions on Reddit and elsewhere about large numbers of phones having gone missing. Police who were tasked with keeping the peace at the event noticed that many of the reports were centered around one tent in particular, and when several iPhone owners alerted authorities that their Find My iPhone tool was pointing them in the same direction, they closed in.
Henao was found with a backpack loaded with the 130-or-so smartphones of all makes and models, but from the police photos it’s clear that many of them were iPhones. Many of the devices were promptly returned to their owners, with the rest taking up residence at the festival’s lost and found tent.
Of course, Henao’s troubles are far from over. He was arrested on charges of receiving stolen property and grand theft, but managed to post a $10,000 bail and was released. The 36-year-old will have his day in court, but it’ll be awfully hard to explain how one person ends up with 130 stolen phones.
