DPD investigating ‘fraudulent device transfer’ phone theft

Published 10:28 am Friday, August 27, 2021

The Dalton Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who posed as a T-Mobile employee to steal two cellphones from a Dalton T-Mobile store. The suspect claimed he was transferring the phones to a different T-Mobile location.

The incident happened in July at the Walnut Avenue T-Mobile store. A man claiming to work for another T-Mobile store asked if the store had extra phones to transfer to his location. This is a common practice for stores when they run low on inventory to replenish supplies.

The suspect arrived a short time later wearing a T-Mobile shirt and name tag with the name “Tay” and identified himself as “Tai.” A store employee gave the suspect two iPhone 12 Pro Max phones and asked him to verify which store he worked for. Instead, the suspect quickly left the store and fled in a blue BMW sedan with a Georgia license plate. The tag number was not visible in store surveillance. The two stolen iPhones are valued at $1,100 each.

The suspect is a Black male who wore a black T-Mobile T-shirt and name tag with jeans and white sneakers. He wore a black face mask and a black baseball cap backward.

Anyone who knows the suspect is asked to please contact Detective Charles Williams at (706) 278-9085, ext. 9-280.