MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – A cellphone left unattended on a courtroom bench proved too enticing a target for a suburban Detroit man appearing before the judge on another matter.
The Macomb County prosecutor's office says Friday that the man was waiting to be sentenced in June in Macomb Circuit Court for a 2017 traffic case when he saw the phone on the bench in front of him.
He sat down beside the phone, placed his hat atop it before sliding the phone into his pocket.
The phone's owner returned and asked a courtroom deputy for assistance when he saw it had been removed.
The deputy reviewed the courtroom's video feed which recorded the theft. The Eastpointe man is charged with larceny in a building in connection with the stolen phone.
“The audacity of this defendant is alarming. He is already in court, awaiting sentencing on multiple unrelated charges,” stated Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith. “And yet, he is captured on video breaking the law once again.”