Man answers Facetime call on stolen iPhone, police say

HOUSTON – UPDATE: Since our story was first posted, the 17-year-old has come forward. We're told he went to police with his mother by his side.

He has not been arrested and no charges have been filed at this time. Police said they are still investigating whether he was the one who stole the phone.

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A suspected iPhone thief at Sugar Land's First Colony Mall appears to have made a critical mistake.

"We have a very excellent image of a suspect in this case," Doug Adolph, spokesperson for the Sugar Land Police Department, said.

It appears the thief answered a Facetime video phone call placed by a friend of the victim shortly after the theft occurred.

The caller managed to capture a frozen video image of the man who answered.

"They guy answered the phone, amazingly. He tried to lie and say it was someone else's phone," Christy Camper said.

Camper's son, 13, set his phone down for a few moments at the mall Aug. 20, when someone picked it up and took off.

Police believe the man who answered the video call, and whose image was captured in a screen grab during the short conversation, is the man who stole the phone.

The suspect's image has now been shared on Facebook almost 2,000 times, but Monday, he remained unidentified.

Initially, the "Find My Phone" feature of the phone failed to locate its physical whereabouts.

Police are confident someone will come forward and identify the perpetrator by way of the "viral" image circulating the internet.

"It's as if someone gift-wrapped this for us, really," Adolph said.

"That would be the best outcome. Well, I guess the best outcome would be to find the phone and him brought to justice," Camper said.

If you have information about the suspect seen in the still video image, contact either Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers 281-342-TIPS or the Sugar Land Police Department at 281-275-2500.