Lost iPhone leads police to stolen car

Her iPhone fell into the car as two armed men forced her out.

They snatched her keys, jumped inside and sped away, apparently unaware that the misplaced cellphone was tracking their every move. And that it would eventually lead police right to them.

It happened about 10 p.m. Wednesday as the woman sat inside the black Chevrolet Malibu parked in a driveway of a home on Booker Street in west Orlando, not far from Eccleston Elementary School.

Orlando police said she was waiting for her boyfriend, who ran inside the home, when a man tapped on her car window asking, “Where your old man at?”

The woman said she called her boyfriend and told him two men were outside looking for him. But as soon as he came out, the two men pointed guns at the couple.

They forced the woman out of the vehicle, got in and drove away, an arrest report states.

Police were called and used a “Find my iPhone” app to track the phone’s location. Within a few hours, that led them to the car heading north into South Apopka.

An Orange County Sheriff’s Office helicopter spotted and followed the vehicle as officers caught up to it on the streets.

Police said the helicopter watched as the men bailed out on Leroy Court in Apopka and ran. They were caught and arrested after a short search, police said.

De’aireus Moore and Michael Whiley, both 19, are facing charges of armed carjacking, aggravated assault and use of a firearm during a felony, according to police.

Both are being held in the Orange County Jail.

Court records show this is Moore’s fourth arrest in Orange County this year. He was out on bail from an arrest in March on burglary charges when Orlando police arrested him in the carjacking incident.

sallen@tribpub.com