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12 On Your Side: App leads deputies to stolen iPad

Posted: 2:28 PM Aug 7, 2012
Reporter: Elizabeth Owens

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News 12 at 6 o'clock / Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Cassandra Brown uses her iPad for just about everything.

"I broke my laptop, so this is my only access to the Internet," she said.

On Friday, she says someone went into her car and stole it.

"Oh, I was sick. Very upset! I felt like there was nothing the police could do," she said.

She thought she would have to buy another iPad until she remembered a specific app she had downloaded.

"You just track it. It picks it off the satellite, it picks up the exact location and tells you exactly where's it at," Brown said.

She took a screen shot of the map indicating the location of her stolen iPad. She told deputies, but after waiting several days and hearing nothing back, she decided to call News 12 On Your Side.

Property crimes investigators say they were not aware of the tracking app on Brown's stolen iPad.

"I have investigators following up on that now because that's something new we just learned," said Sgt. James Kelly with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

Kelly sent a deputy to Brown's house during our visit to the Sheriff's Office.

Brown showed the screenshot of the tracking map to the deputy, which the deputy used to locate an address.

"I mean, the same day you came over here, I got my iPad back," Brown said.

No one has been charged in the theft of Brown's iPad.

Investigators say tracking apps are very helpful in solving cases. However, it's important to remember to let them do the work. Never try to track down a stolen item yourself.

There are a variety of tracking apps for different devices. If you have an iCloud account, then you have the option of turning on a tracking device on any of your Apple products. A far as Androids go, "Pintail," "Lookout" and "Where's my Droid" are popular. There are even tracking apps for your laptop. "Locate my Laptop" is one such popular app.