A T-Mobile store in Bloomingdale is short 19 phones and an Apple Watch, roughly $20,000 in merchandise, and surveillance cameras have been quietly recording the same employee taking them two or three at a time from the back safe. Today, police are here. She doesn't know that yet. This is what happened when she walked in for her shift. >> devices Okay. Which is crazy. Yeah. Um It's pretty significant. So, the total is like what, $20,000? Yeah. So, they're about $1,000 a piece. >> Yeah. Okay. Um takes two at a time, three at a time sometimes. And it's always when she's in the back alone. Okay. Um pockets it. We've been able to like track it, but like haven't stopped it. Last one was I think Sunday, so this Sunday, but it just passed. >> Okay. So, it's like the Our next shift is today 9:30, but she'll make it on time. She tends to like come in late sometimes. >> Okay. Nothing yet, but if she does come in late, she normally texts me like, "I'm running late." But nothing today, so. Okay. You know Do you know what kind of car she drives? No, she gets dropped off, though. In the front or the back? Uh in the back. So, he uses the back door. All right. Um have you guys like been able to figure out which serial numbers of the phones and you got everything? Okay, cuz I don't know if it was given to the officer yesterday or not, but I don't have that pulled up right now. I pulled them Um but corporate office down the street they definitely have it, too. Okay. Yeah, we'll probably end up needing that at some point today. Um I think it was uh her name is Anna who like handles everything. >> Okay. But I can >> That may have been who Is that Ashley? >> Yes. Okay. Yeah, I guess she's the one that called yesterday, so. Hopefully, she'll get all that to us. Um what are your guys' intentions with her? I no comment on that. I'm assuming they're going to press charges, but I Okay. So, then what we'll do when she comes in, we'll just we'll take her. Um we'll take her back, see if she'll interview. Yeah. And then hopefully, she'll give up where these phones are and we can get them back. Um that's, you know, we're just hoping. That's a hope. You know. So, I don't know if you guys are going to do something on the civil aspect of it, you guys can figure that out. Um but yeah, we'll take her if you guys are going to sign complaints and then From there, we're trying to get your phones back. How long has she worked here? Uh since June. End of May, early June. I thought it's like fresh. And this just started this month? Yes. Yeah. We normally I normally do like counts every other day just to like make sure the inventory is full. Like we sell a lot of phones. Yeah. My job is like part of my job is to count phones, and I noticed it last two weeks Saturday. But we have a system glitch time to time where like it doesn't ring out the phone. So, I played the waiting game and then I started to see it was more phones than I was like, "Hold up." Yeah, this this isn't making any sense. >> When did she get the code for the safe? Uh after she completed training. Everyone has a code. Okay. It's like an Okay, I was going to say individual codes for each person. >> Same code. But >> But she has permission to go into the safe. >> Yes, yeah. Yes, okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Does it lock out like that Do you have to wait 10 minutes after >> a 10-minute time delay Okay, so that [ __ ] is legit. Yeah, yeah. I didn't know if whenever I buy a phone that's just some BS. >> Yeah, I know that. A lot of people think it is. It's literally a 10-minute safe. I'll set it now. But the left side is no timer. So, this one all of our good stuff is here. Okay stuff is here. But we never normally have like one of each device. >> Mhm. Uh-huh. And sometimes we have like multiple devices on this side. But for the most part, she's seen taking from here. Just the iPhones? Yeah. Okay. Um Samsung as well and then Apple Watches. Okay. But number of devices from Okay. All right. Do you know if Ashley's going to be here today or not? She She's not. All right, I'll reach out to her. She's actually living up the camera footage. A lot, so. And these phones haven't been activated or nothing like that? >> Nothing, no usage on them. No, we tried I tried to see like if like maybe it was a system glitch, but nothing, no serial numbers. Uh serial number is not in use. All right. You got a flag so like if any phone was activated at some point, you get an alert or something like that or No. >> just have a daily like check in daily? >> Check in, yeah. These safes have two different codes? Yes. Two different codes. But she's got access to both of them. Yes. And she's only got access to these safes and not these safes. So, is that cash and stuff like that? Cash, yeah. That's kind of easier to take, so. I only have that. Okay. Next time. I was able to watch back some of those videos, seen that she's able to open She was taking >> Yeah. From both of them. Yeah. What's in this one like fewer phones? >> Uh no, it's the exact same phones, but like I'll have like multiple quantities of phones. So, like one iPhone here where like I have 10 of these on this side. >> Okay. Right now, I have nothing in the safe, but normally, it's like a good double-digit quantity. Are you guys scheduled to work today? I'm sorry? Yes, yes. Um two more people, but one is going to be opening, he's on his way. And then one closes tonight, so. So, two openers, one closer. I have a new trainee. What's the typical like she walks in, she like walks to somewhere to put her bag or something like that? >> we'll leave the bags in the chairs, um clock in, and essentially open the store, get like the store ready for the day, um move some phones over. Um but I really like to do that in the morning when I get here. Mhm. And then just wait to service customers, that's it. Okay. Do you have a good address for her? I can pull them up, yeah. Yeah. I saw her verify some of the phone number. driver's license So, this is what the right side looks like. Um empty on phones. We're not supposed to have like 40 phones here. Yeah. But we normally just move some over. Mhm. And then as soon as we're done, we just lock it back up. It's a 10-minute time limit. They're coming out both. Yes. Yeah. How frequently are shipments? Sorry? How frequently you guys get shipments? Uh normally every single day. Uh Monday through Friday. Okay. Yeah, the more you sell, the more they replenish. So. There's nothing like I wish we had like a catalog that I can order phones. >> Mhm. But it's just like whatever we sell, we get replenished. >> Yeah. Typically two to three days. It's kind of low right now, meaning that we haven't sold anything. Yeah. I think it's worse if she lives where we think she lives cuz it's like a 3-minute drive. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's very close. Yeah. But she's late all the time, so. I don't know everything. [ __ ] when I'm like 30 minutes early, I feel like I'm waiting like Usually, I'm about 15. Like 3 hours before a flight that leaves and stuff like that. Yeah. Hi. Ashley? Hi. Hi. We'd like to see you guys come on down. This is my partner, Detective Johnson. How do you do? Um Do you kind of understand why we'd be here? We wanted to speak with you. Do you have an ID on you by any chance? No, not with me. You don't have anything with your name on it? Not today. Okay. Um So, we've kind of been informed of what's been going on regarding cell phones. Um but at this time, we are going to have to take you into custody, okay? If you could just give me your bag. And then if you could hand my partner your phone. He's going to hold on to that for you, okay? You don't have anything on you, right? No pockets? Okay. Here's your purse, money back. Is this your shorty? All right, I'm going to take this. That's probably Dave. Dave, is that you? I want to get your coat. It's like it's not even for Tiny wrist. Is that too tight? I'm going to lock this so it doesn't tighten up on you, okay? I don't know what we're doing. You got a key in there? All right, so we'd like to talk to you about it. Um we can do that at the PD. Okay. Um How long have you been working at T-Mobile? Um about two weeks. Two weeks? Two months. Two months, okay. Did you work anywhere before that? Um yeah, Vision Works. Okay. Why do you think that we are in this situation right now? I would just listen to what you guys have to say here from you guys. Okay. So, obviously, T-Mobile has told us some phones and some other items are missing. Do you know anything about that? Some phones and other items? Mhm. What other items? Apple Watch, AirPods. Yeah. I don't know about the phones. I know about the watch. Okay. So, tell me about the phones. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and act like I don't know what's going on or what's happening. Yeah, I appreciate that. So, yeah, I do I do know about the phones that are missing. I know Yeah, it's me. Do you know how many phones are missing from here? Uh no. No, okay. Um What was the reasoning for for taking those phones? The reasoning is not thinking. I wasn't really thinking about it. You just short on cash or something? Trying to pay for student loans? Cuz that's something I can understand. I don't I mean, pretty people can understand it, but yeah, but like it wasn't the smart thing to do. Okay. Um I was just saying that actions have consequences. Yes. No, but being forthcoming about it obviously is that's better for you in the long term, you know, because we can say like oh hey, she took this because she needed the money or short on money, you know, she's going to school full time, she's got 3 more years and school's not cheap. I mean I don't know how cheap it was when you went to school, I don't know. You know what it's like right now. Definitely can't think what it is for you guys to go to school than what I'm going for. Yeah. So, how much is your school now? Um Chamberlain ain't cheap, I don't know that. Huh? I said Chamberlain ain't cheap. Chamberlain ain't cheap. Chamberlain ain't cheap. Like I think for Chamberlain, I think I have 10 left to pay them. That's not that bad. That's not bad. Yeah. That's what's left. Yeah, I've been paying them for since I started. Okay. That's why That's why I was switching cuz I was like this is way too expensive. I can't I can't constantly pay it. Yeah. I can get that. So, is that kind of why you were just short on money? Yeah. Okay. Did somebody tell you to take the phones to Huh? Did you ever talk to anybody about taking the phones? Like friends, family? No. Anybody like request you to hey, can you slip me an iPhone? No. No, okay. What did you What did you do with those phones? Um I gave them away. Okay. Friends, family? Friends. Okay. Do you know which friends you gave them to? Huh? Do you know which friends you gave them to? Mhm. Were you able to tell me who you gave them to? Not necessarily that they're going to be in trouble, but I'm being quite honest, we're trying to get those phones back, you know. I can get you that. I can get you that. Okay. Um Do you want to just write down who you gave them to? Um I can give like if if I have my phone off like I can give it to you like Give me just a second, okay? I know your phone is like almost dead, so do you want a charger real quick? Okay. Um did they give you money? So, let's charge that up a little bit, I don't want it to die on you, you know. Okay. Um did you get money in return for giving them the phones? Um just a bit. Okay. How much were you getting per per phone? Huh? How much were you getting per phone? Like five. Like five or what? Five hundred. Okay. Do you know how many phones you sold off? Only two. Only two? Okay. What'd you do with the rest of the phones? I don't know. I don't think I only had two. Um we were taking more than that. Yeah, we can take more than three phones. No. Okay. Um if I was to tell you that T-Mobile pulled their inventory for the last like two or three weeks and we're missing 19 phones. 19? 19 19. Oh my gosh. 19 19 phones. I mean I like I can show you a couple pictures. I'm not denying you. I'm not saying you didn't take anything. That's your right. You just overall taking 19. Yeah. I'm not denying you. I'm saying I didn't do it. I'm not going to I'm not doing any of that. Okay. I'm I'm owning up to it. I want you guys to know that I Yeah, I told I was wrong. I was wrong. I did mess up and it was wrong of me to even do that. I have consequences for what I did. Like I said before, we're trying to at least get the phones back from T-Mobile. Mhm. But they are saying that they're missing quite a few phones Mhm. since like August 9th. So, the last like two weeks. Guess what? I think if you pull my other phone, I can get that to you. Yeah. Until I get that to you. Yeah. So, you think you only sold two phones? Did you give Okay, maybe you sold two phones, did you give any away? Mhm. Okay. I can give them to That's how it was like I can give the people that I gave them to to you like directly. All right. Yeah, we'll get your phone once it charges up. Like I said, it was like a very very sliver of red and I didn't want it to die. So, we just threw it on a charger, we'll get it in 10 minutes and then we'll get that back. Um They also brought up that they're missing some money. So, What do you mean? What was explained to me is that sometimes they'll be you guys would be given cash as a deposit, whether it's for a statement or for like a phone, um and then it's causing inconsistencies with what was supposed to be deposited and what was actually deposited. And those inconsistencies fell on days that you were closing. Did you happen to like swipe some cash? >> No. That's one thing I've never done. Like take anything out of a register, no. Cuz like I've been at any job and never wanted to go into the register to do that. Phones, yes, I'm I did, but the register, no, I've never done that. >> Okay. So, you never took any cash from the deposit box or anything like that? Okay. >> remember ever doing anything like that. I've never done that any job ever. I wouldn't do that. Cuz I have We have to count it to make it right, so I wouldn't I wouldn't do that. All right. You said Have you done this in the past? No. No? No. Just only this one time at T-Mobile. Okay. Um I've never done anything like this ever in my life. Okay. So, what made you do it? Anything. I was stressed. Okay. I wasn't feeling like I said, I wasn't really thinking straight. I just was like okay, I'm just do this and and then yeah. Really I messed up. Okay. I mean people make mistakes, right? And you've never been arrested before? No. Okay. So, maybe this was just a I've never even seen inside of a jail. Well, ours is actually I don't think we're going to put you in jail, so Except for when we hit like someone hit our car and we came in and were like making a police report, but other than that I've never seen an inside, so No. Hopefully this will be the last time. Yes, please. Okay. Um I will never do this again. The people you gave the phones to, are there any more phones left at your house? No. You got some in your bedroom or anything like that? Actually, no, I do not. No? Not at all. Okay. That's why I said I can give you exactly who I gave the phones to so you can go there there's nothing I can give you at all Okay. cuz I'm incentivized to get it back, so I can give them directly to directly to you. Um and it was all like just friends and family or friends? Mhm. Did you sell any on Facebook Marketplace or OfferUp? I think I gave one to like a family friend, like like not my friend, but like family friend of friend, like that type of friend. Okay. So, yeah. That's who I sold it to. That's why I said I'll get the people directly to you and show you who I gave them to Yeah. and who I gave them to and who I sold them to so you can know. Okay. Yeah, I'm not trying to jam a lot of you. No. But like I said, we're just trying to get the No, you're fine. You're fine. I'm in the wrong. You're not wrong. But ask any questions. Okay. What's a What's a good phone for you? I think you already know. Does anybody in your family like I mean your family know about this? Like your mom or your Did your dad say that? Mhm. Nobody knows. Nobody knows about it? No. Okay. Boyfriend know about it? No, not even him. Okay. So, it's just kind of like a spur of the moment, hey Yeah. That's why I said it's it's really on me. Nobody else would know anything about it. Okay. Cuz that was my mistake. I wouldn't really tell anyone if I made a mistake. Okay. Um So, on I guess the topic of the phone, would you give us consent to go through your phone? Um What do you mean? Like would you give us consent to take your phone and get like the screenshots of Would you allow us to go through your phone for like who you Oh, I was going to show you Okay. I'll show every person to you. Okay. Okay. Were you making the money through cash or was it like Cash App or Cash. They just paid you cash? Yeah. Okay. That's why I was like it seems to be just from the shady cuz there's no receipts and Yeah. like no Cash App or anything like that. Got you. Did you make any purchases with the money you got from that or not? Not really. Only a few things. Like what? Any other big big dollar purchases like anything over $100? No. Not yet. Nothing like that so far? No. Okay. Is that cash from when you sold the phones? That's in your wallet. Is that like $800 or something like that cash? Probably, yes. Yeah. Okay. Is it all from your the phone sales? Huh? Is it all from selling the phones? >> No. How much do you got in your wallet from that? Um Are the bills there? Something like about five is in there from from the phones. The other I just had that on my card and I took it off. I was loading it. Okay. You said that you had a debit card. What's your bank account? Where do you bank with? I don't really have a bank. Is it like a I Yeah, I use I use PayPal. PayPal, Cash App? Stuff like that. Okay. Um do you get your mail sent there? Do you only get mail there? Mhm. You only get mail there? No sir. Huh? Why don't you want to get mail at this address? Cuz it's my mom's address and she's nosy. I hate when she gets my Okay. I got it. Okay. That makes sense. So, what was the phone for you again? Yes. How do you think your mom would react to you being in this situation? >> I really don't even want to tell her. Think she'd be disappointed? Yeah, I'm disappointed. That's fair. Um She knows I've never done anything like this. She would know that you've never gotten in trouble. She's pretty strict? Yeah. Okay. She's absolutely going to be mad. Okay. I mean I'm not going to Well, like I said, we all make mistakes. Um What do you think should happen to somebody who you know got caught stealing phones? You know, if it was me, I would tell you no, so I'm pretty sure they probably want to do the same thing to me, so Assuming that? Yeah. Okay. What do you think about criminally? What do you think should happen? Um you should have to pay all that money back and some maybe. Cuz like it's wrong. You should definitely have to pay some and extra. So, I'm just uh kind of recap. How many phones do you think that you've taken from T-Mobile? I don't know. I don't know. Do you think it was 19? That is for the iPhone, I mean, iPhone and Samsung. I don't know. Could have been. Is it possible you just kind of grab it real quick and you can track it? >> Possibly. Yeah, possibly. Were they all in the safe? Mm, yeah. And then you're taking display ones? They're all from the safe? Yeah. Were you ever told not to take phones out of the safe unless it was for Hm? Were you ever like instructed, "Hey, don't take phones out unless it's for a customer"? No. Okay. How long you've been with your boyfriend? Mm, we've been together for 3 years. I don't know, 3 or 4. Okay. What's he do? He's in real estate management. Maintenance? Or what is that? Like apartment complexes or like a I think it's for apartment complexes. Is that who you had on your status when I got home? What phones do you have at his place? Or do you guys stay together? No, I don't. I don't have any phones. You don't have any more phones? Okay. That's why I said I can give you all Have you told him about the two phones? All right. Did you list your boyfriend as like an emergency contact? No. Okay. All right. So, we'd like to obviously have you show us and tell us where the phones went and who we can contact to try and get those phones back. >> Right. Um and then obviously we're going to have to talk to corporate, you know, cuz all they're they're actually the ones that brought this to our attention. So, we have to ask them, you know, how they want to proceed. Um you've never been arrested before, so it's not like this is a pattern, but it's essentially a pattern because it's been multiple instances. Um and then we want to talk to the state's attorney about it. So, is there anybody you want to call? You're probably going to be here a little bit, I might say, you're not going to be here all day, but you're probably going to be here for you know, probably like a couple hours. Is there anything I can I'm Is there anything else I have to do? I was like I'm confused. I'm sorry. I've never been done this um You're probably just going to be chilling, to be honest with you. Yeah. We're going to let you wait for your phone to charge up a little more and then we'll come back and I'll talk to you. We'll go through, you know, who may have the other the cell phones just so we can probably get those back. Um hopefully they'll be willing to give that back. Um and then we want to start the state's attorney just to see how they want to kind of proceed with this, whether it's release you and we'll follow up with you another day while we gather some more information or whether they want to charge you with something. I guess I don't know what the charge would be. Um I have kind of an idea, but that's going to be ultimately up to the state's attorney. So. Detectives told her they'd need to speak with the state's attorney before deciding how to proceed, whether that meant charging her that day or releasing her pending further investigation. She had no prior arrests and they acknowledged that, but they also noted that taking phones on multiple separate occasions made it a pattern, not a single incident, which would factor into how the case was handled. At the time this footage was recorded, detectives were working to recover as many of the 19 missing devices as possible by reaching out to the people she'd identified. The full inventory record and serial numbers were being pulled from corporate. Whether all of those phones were ever recovered isn't documented in this footage. If you have thoughts on how this case was handled, the arrest, the interview approach, or how the store should have caught it sooner, drop them in the comments below.