iPhone App Leads to Robbery Suspects

A Penn State professor visiting D.C. Tuesday quickly got his iPhone back from robbers thanks to a handy free app.

“They were right on me before I realized they were anywhere near me, and the guy came around the corner and said, ‘Give me all of your money,’” Chris Marone said.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday in Franklin Park, two men robbed Marone, who was texting when he was approached.

“I said, ‘Can I keep my phone? I don’t have any other way to contact my daughter,’” Marone said. “And the guy said, ‘That ain’t happening,’ and he took my phone.”

Marone went to his hotel and called police and his wife in State College, Pa. Using the Find My Friends app, Marone’s wife tracked the movements of his phone. When it stopped at Third and E streets in Northwest, she told Marone, who told police.

“I’m impressed and amazed by the Metropolitan Police Department,” Marone said. “The whole thing didn’t take 15 minutes from the time we started talking to the dispatcher to the time that they had arrested these guys.”

Police recovered the phone and most of Marone’s money.