NEW ORLEANS — Victims are reaching out to Eyewitness News about their stolen phones. Victims say the phones were pickpocketed during Carnival celebrations, and now they're tracking the phone locations to Florida.
Earlier this week, Tangipahoa Sheriff's Office recovered 162 phones that were stolen on New Orleans parade routes. TPSO arrested 11 individuals they say are connected to a Colombian theft ring that's committed recent crimes in Florida and other places across the country.
Victims were hopeful their phones may have been part of the recovery, until they noticed the locations were showing Miami, Florida.
One family from the Northshore watched the parades from St. Charles and Poydras. Garrett said that may have been where his wife's phone was stolen.
“This was a planned attack, and it wasn’t necessarily on us not being weary of our situations," Garrett said, “We were in a private, fenced in area watching the parades. So, they were professionals with it.”
The phone's most recent location shows an apartment complex in Miami, Garrett said.
“So, I reached out to Miami Police Department, and they pretty much told us for lack of better words, ‘Tough luck. We want nothing to do with that,'" Garrett said.
Andrea is from New York. She was visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras when her phone was stolen. Her phone was eventually tracked to the same apartment as Garrett's wife's phone.
“I was on the Endymion parade route on S. Scott and Canal. I was visiting friends that live down the street," Andrea said, “I had taken some photos, put my phone in my pocket and maybe a minute or two later, my phone was gone.”
It later popped up in Slidell, according to her Find My iPhone feature.
“About two hours later it started pinging at a Motel 6 in Slidell and when I called the Motel 6 she said, ‘Let me guess you have a stolen phone and it’s pinging at this location,' and I was like, 'Yes,' and she goes, 'You’re the sixth person that’s called me today,'" Andrea said.
In the last week, she watched her phone travel from southeast Louisiana and through Florida, until it stopped in Miami.
Each time her phone pinged in a certain location; she contacted the local police department.
“They said New Orleans has to initiate or investigate any sort of call about this," Andrea said.
Andrea said NOPD staff informed her of the police department's staffing shortage.
“I filed an online police report and they said some of the waiting times to get these police reports approved is like two weeks right now," Andrea said.
The NOPD and Miami Police Department told us they're gathering information.
The NOPD, especially the 8th District which includes the French Quarter and CBD, are investigating the claims.
For Andrea and Garrett's wife, it's less about the phone and the money it costs to replace it. It's more about the information and memories the phones hold.
“It wasn’t as backed up as I thought it would be so you know I’ve lost a lot of photos that are of very sentimental value," Andrea said.
“This is stolen identities. This is bank accounts. This is everyone’s life in a device," Garrett said.