FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Three people have been arrested after, police said, they pickpocketed phones at the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale.
Tortuga goers showed up at the Fort Lauderdale Police Monday Department, hoping for the best.
“Went to go reach it in my pocket and it was gone,” said a Tortuga goer.
“I was just going through the crowd trying to get to my girlfriend and then realized it was not in my pocket anymore,” said another Tortuga goer.
Police were flooded with reports of missing phones over the weekend. Officers recovered 23 phones from a trio who, they said, weren’t on the sand to listen to country music.
“These suspects went to the festival with the intent of doing this, of pickpocketing cellphones,” said Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Ali Adamson.
Wilson Andres Garson Ruzzi, Piter Nieto Valenzuela and Yesica Castellano are behind bars and appeared before a judge after police said they were caught in the act by festival security.
“That’s evidence by the Faraday bags that it was, you know, thought about beforehand, and you know, kind of planned out,” said Adamson.
The group utilized a Faraday bag to avoid being tracked.
“Essentially when you put the phone into the bag, it is airplane mode for the phone and does not allow communications to go into the phone or come out of the phone,” said Adamson.
“It definitely kind of sucks, but luckily I have my girlfriend’s phone to, you know, try to navigate. It was turned off immediately. Once I realized I lost it, I tried to call it,” said one of the Tortuga goers.
“I’m just hoping one of those were my phones, so I can get it back,” said the other Tortuga goer.
“When attending a large scale event like this or any type of festival or anything like this, it is best to keep your phone in a front pocket, in a front zipper, in a front bag where the zipper would be preferred to minimize, you know, the potential of being a victim,” said Adamson.
One of the three suspects bonded out of jail Monday.
Police said they believe more victims are out there.
If anyone believes that may have been a victim of phone theft at the event Saturday night, contact 954-764-HELP (4357) and reference case number 22-063714.
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