Armed Car Robbery in Sumner Thwarted by iPhone Tracking Device

On New Year’s Day, a woman who stopped at the Sumner Fred Meyer to do some shopping was surprised in the parking lot by a man who pointed a gun at her and stole her car. Thanks to her quick thinking, investigators were able to track down the vehicle in Auburn about an hour later through her iPhone and returned it unscathed.

The suspect had been watching her and a friend park the brand new Kia Sorrento near the gas pumps at Fred Meyer. The two women felt uneasy about him and waited in the car for a minute or two before exiting. As soon as they did, the man approached them, brandished what appeared to be a small handgun and ordered them to hand over the car keys. He sped off toward East Valley Highway.

The women called Sumner Police and described the man as about 60 years old, about 5 feet, 3 inches tall and wearing a distinctive leather jacket covered in orange and red flames that said “MAC TOOLS” on the back.

While at the station, the woman realized her iPhone was still in the car, and she had downloaded a tracking app to it that could locate the phone’s whereabouts on Google Maps. She logged in to her account and located it at an apartment complex in Auburn.

Auburn PD was contacted and, using the woman’s Apple ID, was able to log in to her account and find the car in the parking lot, with the phone still inside her purse.

Officers could not determine which apartment building the man was in, so they repossessed the car and left an officer at the scene to wait for him to appear.

Eventually, the man was arrested after he was found searching the parking lot for the car. He even asked several neighbors if they saw someone steal his new Kia. When police arrested him, he was wearing the distinctive leather jacket and they found Kia car keys and a small black airsoft gun in the coat pocket, which they believed he used to intimidate the women in the parking lot.

The man told officers he had a brand new Kia that was a rental, and that he didn’t remember what he was doing earlier in the day, but admitted to being in Sumner. He was arrested for armed robbery.

The woman got her vehicle back with all her belongings still inside.