Victim Tracks Down Stolen Cell Phone

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A determined mother took on the task of tracking down the alleged thief who stole her cell phone, eventually leading to a face-to-face confrontation and the arrest of the suspect.

Alicia Crooks, a pregnant mother-of-four, said someone snatched her phone when she set it down at a grocery store checkout stand for a brief moment, costing her not just the phone, but hundreds of family photos.

"I can get a phone, but I was chasing the memories, my pictures," Alicia said.

Surveillance video showed Alicia and her husband that another woman, described as a short white female with red hair, had taken off with the phone when she wasn't looking. Alicia tried to track the suspect by using the GPS feature on her phone, but only started getting results on Wednesday.

"First it was pinging at Smoketree [Drive], then Arena Boulevard, then back to Smoketree," Alicia said. "Okay, something's at Smoketree."

A new phone number soon popped up on her call records: The alleged thief's parents.

Alicia said tracked the phone to an apartment complex on Smoketree Drive and confronted the suspect directly, asking for the return of her phone. The woman had the phone but skipped the apologies, Alicia said.

"She had a really bad attitude," she said. "She was just mouthing off. I said, 'You know what? I'm just going to have you arrested.'"

Police used surveillance video from the grocery story and a video the woman shot from phone that showed her and her boyfriend singing as evidence of the theft.

"They had a bag, he looked stoned, [singing] 'I think I found my baby,'" Alicia said.

Authorities charged 22-year-old Christine House with felony possession of stolen property and are holding her in custody on $5,000 bail. Her first court date is Friday afternoon.