Most of the people that you encounter at festivals are loving people and spending a great festival spirit. Unfortunately, there are always some bad eggs in there.
This past weekend was EDC Orlando. The festival takes place every year in Orlando, Florida. This year was the first year that EDC Orlando became a 3-day festival after previously only being over two days, which was exciting for everyone. The lineup was great, and a great weekend was in store for everyone.
Unfortunately, there was also a person there phone stealing. The man, Carlos Perez-Hernandez, was caught on Sunday night. A witness at the festival saw him pickpocketing phones from the pockets of many different people at the event and putting them in a black backpack. He pointed out Perez-Hernandez, wearing a tie-dye blue hoodie, to a few officers at the event.
The backpack was heavy and at around 9 p.m., police were called to Camping World Stadium for a report of stolen cell phones. They found 34 phones in his backpack, all which had been turned on airplane mode so that the victims could not call or track their phones.
The officers took the phones off of airplane mode and three people were able to retrieve their phones, while others who heard about it announced on social media that those who had gotten their phone stolen should try tracking and calling it again. He was found near Kinetic Energy Stage, where most of the pickpockets were believed to have happened. Many of the phones were the newest Samsung and iPhone models, which can be worth over $1,000 each.
Perez-Hernandez was transported to Orange County Jail, and charged with grand theft.
A raver by the name of Kaitlyn Gautreau snapped a photo of a few phone cases at EDC Orlando next to the porta-potties that are believed from stolen phones that were taken throughout the festival.
This is what she had to say:
So heartbreaking to see how someone else’s greed by stealing ruined so many people’s EDC experience. We come to these festivals to come together and embrace the music and dumb asses like this who pickpocket then dispose of the cases in the portapotty(making their job harder to clean up quickly) sickens me. So many IDs and debit cards on the ground. This is just a PSA don’t keep your phone in your back pocket AT ALL during festivals. Whenever I see people at festivals with them in their back pocket I kindly give them a heads up there are horrid people who come to these things just to do this. Keep your personal items close. Get a fanny pack or a lock on your backpack. PSA everyone should go to EDC just be aware of your surroundings
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