Courthouse cell phone snatcher draws jail term

NORRISTOWN >> A Philadelphia man accompanying a relative to a hearing in Montgomery County Court has racked up a conviction of his own after he stole a cell phone from another courthouse visitor and it was caught on tape.

Paul Robert Bevins, 53, of the 1600 block of North 56th Street, was sentenced to one to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft by receiving stolen property in connection with the July 6, 2015, incident at the courthouse in Norristown.

Common Pleas Court Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, said Bevins can serve his minimum sentence over the course of consecutive weekends.

An investigation began about noon when a man reported to county sheriff’s deputies that his cell phone went missing while he was waiting outside a courtroom to be called into court.

“After he entered the courtroom he realized he had left his cell phone on the bench located outside the courtroom,” county Detective Joseph Kelly Jr. wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the victim discovered his phone was no longer on the bench and that theman he had been sitting next to had left.

Assisted by Robbie Robbins, director of courthouse security, authorities determined the theft was recorded by courthouse security cameras, which recorded Bevins “taking the phone and placing it in his pocket before leaving,” according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators determined Bevins had been at the courthouse accompanying a relative who had business with the court, according to the arrest affidavit.

Other charges of theft by unlawful taking and theft of property lost or mislaid by mistake were dismissed against Bevins as part of the plea agreement.