The Associated Press
WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Can you hear me now, officer?
When authorities dialed the number of a stolen cell phone this week, two burglary suspects answered, then apparently didn’t know how to turn the phone off.
The open cell line allowed an Oklahoma deputy sheriff to listen in as the pair, according to officials, plotted other crimes. It gave law enforcement an inadvertent global positioning system that helped track the suspects down to the Texas Panhandle -- where they were arrested.
Jefferson County, Okla., assistant District Attorney Dennis Gay identified the men Thursday as Scott Lee Maddox, 19, of Douglasville, Ga., and Chris Baker, 20, whose address was unknown. Both men face three counts of aggravated robbery.
After a pickup, a four-wheeler, a rifle, DVD player and a cell phone were stolen Tuesday from two houses near Ringling, Okla., Deputy Sheriff Clint Smith dialed the phone number. The suspects answered and taunted the deputy but apparently didn’t know how to operate a cell phone, Gay said.
That meant Smith was able to listen as the two men drove into Texas toward Wichita Falls, all the while discussing plans to rob other houses and possibly shoot a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who was behind them, Gay said.
Getting clues from what the men talked about, Smith contacted police departments in Texas, Gay said. A description of the men was obtained after the suspects left a Vernon gas station without paying, Gay said.
According to the Amarillo Police Department, the two men were arrested Wednesday night on Interstate 40 after an officer noticed a vehicle matching the one circulated by DPS.