AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department has teamed up with Crowdfind and the ACL Fest to return stolen cell phones to their rightful owners. A number of cell phones had been stolen from attendees of weekend one of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, October 4-6, 2018.
According to the Austin Police Department, investigators with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department in Kissimmee, Florida intercepted a package and discovered a large number of cell phones had been shipped from Austin to Florida.
An operation was conducted, resulting in the arrest of three Colombian nationals:
- Edward Javier Garcia-Castano, age 34
- Estivenson Blanco-Rubiano, age 34
- Wilmer Arias-Arias, age 25
All three were charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigations for trafficking in stolen property across state lines. Immigration and Customs Enforcement then deported the trio back to Colombia for immigration offenses. All recovered phones from of this effort have been photographed with the wallpaper screen showing, for those devices able to be powered on.
Crowdfind will assist the owner in claiming the device, obtaining a shipping label then notifying the Austin Police Department detectives to release the phone back to them. Anyone who attended weekend one of the Austin City Limits Music Festival and lost a phone or reported their phone as stolen can visit the following website: crowdfind.com/APDPhones.