Stolen iPhone Helps Solve Two Robberies

A robbery suspect inadvertently set the stage for his own arrest when he allegedly stole a delivery driver’s GPS-enabled iPhone during the second of two robberies, then sold it to an electronics store with a video surveillance camera, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DEONTE P. CURRY (D.O.B. 5/6/91) of Everett was arraigned yesterday in Dorchester District Court on two separate dockets charging him with armed robbery. Both robberies targeted pizza deliverymen called to the area of 110 Monsignor Lydon Way earlier this month.

Assistant District Attorney Michael DiStefano recommended that Curry be held on $50,000 cash bail for each offense, for a total of $100,000. Dorchester District Court Judge Robert Tochka set bail at half that amount.

Prosecutors say Curry is one of two men who called for pizza deliveries on Dec. 19 and Dec. 23. In the first incident, two men pointed handguns at a Domino’s driver and took his cell phone and wallet along with a food order at about 2:20 p.m. The second incident targeted a Currach Bistro and Pizza driver from whom the assailants took their food order along with the victim’s cash and iPhone shortly after 1:45 p.m.

Various efforts to identify the gunmen in the aftermath of the first robbery were unsuccessful. Just hours after the second robbery, however, the Currach driver’s iPhone was tracked by its GPS capabilities to Nadia’s, an electronics store on Washington Street in Dorchester.

Boston Police detectives traveled to the store and spoke with an employee who stated that he’d bought an iPhone matching the description of the one stolen from the Currach driver. The employee stated that two men had sold him the phone for $50 at 2:00 or 3:00 that afternoon. The clerk further stated that there was video surveillance of the transaction.

Detectives seized the phone and the Currach victim positively identified it by naming various contact information stored in its memory. After a review of the surveillance, the detectives also assembled photo arrays that included a photograph of Curry, whom they recognized from multiple past encounters.

The Domino’s driver and clerk at Nadia’s viewed the photo array separately. Both identified Curry, with the robbery victim picking him out as one of the men who robbed him and the clerk naming him as the person who had sold the stolen iPhone at his store.

Based on the Domino’s driver’s identification of Curry as his assailant, the surveillance imagery showing Curry selling the Currach driver’s stolen phone, and the strong similarities between the two robberies, Boston Police obtained a warrant for Curry’s arrest. He was taken into custody on Wednesday.

No one has been charged as the second assailant at this time, but the investigation remains active.

Curry was represented yesterday by attorney Jessica Tripp. He will return to court on Jan. 24.