Hungry man grabs cellphone from police station
When Paul William Peehi answered the phone he had just stolen he didn’t expect the call to be from police telling him to return it to Whanga¯rei police station, where he had just taken it from.
Temptation got too much for Peehi when he picked up the phone and slid it into his pocket at the front counter of the Whanga¯rei station.
A woman had inadvertently left her cellphone there but Peehi may or may not have been aware of the CCTV cameras that would have picked up his opportunistic act.
Police, however, didn’t have to even rely on the recording devices to solve the crime.
They called the stolen phone’s number and told Peehi to go back to the station and he returned — with the cellphone.
Peehi, 38, pleaded guilty in the Whanga¯rei District Court to one charge of theft from a person.
He was sentenced to 70 hours’ community work.
According to the police summary of facts, Peehi was at the station about 1.45pm on January 7.
A woman had inadvertently left her phone on the counter after making an inquiry.
Peehi was next in line behind her and moved up, uplifted the phone, and left the station.
Police identified him from the CCTV footage and rang Peehi and told him to return to the station.
He was arrested upon his return and told police he was going to sell the phone and buy food because he was hungry.