A Corpus Christi man is sending kudos to an investigator with the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department for helping him track down and recover his iPhone.
Ike T. Stanfield had been staying at a hotel in Houston while undergoing chemotherapy at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. His iPhone had been stolen from the hotel lobby, he said.
After a week of searching, the recovery of the iPhone would not have been possible without the help of a Cameron County Sheriff’s Department deputy, investigator Gilberto Cisneros Jr, he said.
The iPhone, which contained numbers, photos, information regarding doctor’s appointments, was important for the man’s health. “I was totally lost being away from home and having my entire life on that phone,” Stanfield said in a letter written to Cameron County Sheriff Eric Garza and emailed to media.
With the phone missing, Stanfield managed to lock the iPhone using an app but didn’t cancel the device as “stolen” in hopes he would be able to track it down. One week later, he received an alert that his iPhone was in Brownsville. He tried reaching out to the Brownsville Police Department, but no avail, he said.
He then reached out to the sheriff’s department June 10, hoping someone could help him get the iPhone back.
After making several calls, his message reached Cisneros who “somehow actually heard my plea for help and listened,” Stanfield wrote. “No one had done that the entire week I had been tracing my phone.”
Stanfield told Cisneros Jr. the location where his iPhone was located and that the detective “was like a hound dog out smelling his way to a runaway. What an excellent detective,” the letter read.
According to the app, the iPhone was not that far from the Cameron County jail, Stanfield wrote.
Cisneros went to the location where Stanfield had said the iPhone would be, and the investigator was able to retrieve it from a woman who had it in her possession.
Stanfield then drove to Brownsville to pick up his iPhone.
“I just want you to know what a professional, kind, and helpful employee you have. Cameron County is lucky to have such a devoted employee for the public,” Stanfield wrote. “At a time when we hear so much negativity towards our law enforcement, I want to shed some light on how helpful this officer is and how he went beyond and above what everyone else had done. I knew I could get my phone back if someone just took time to listen to me and help.”
Commenting on the letter Tuesday, Garza said: “I think our officer did a good job. We are always willing and able to assist anybody who needs assistance whether it’s just because somebody stole their phone or something a lot more grave. I do want to thank the gentleman for reaching out and thanking our peace officers for what they do.”
Garza said this was the second letter the sheriff’s department had received in the past few months from the public thanking the department for what the deputies do.
“We also go above and beyond in serving the public,” Garza said. “It is very welcomed. It shows our deputies that they are appreciated and that they are doing a good job.”
