Teenagers accused of stealing iPhone 16 had access to tracking information

DEER PARK, Texas — New details are emerging about two teenagers who Deer Park police say flew in from out of state to steal brand new iPhone 16s off people's porches. Investigators now believe it could be part of a larger plot.

The suspected thieves used a rental car and did not notice that the car's dashboard camera was connected and running the entire time.

David Dye and Iyanna Perry are accused of theft after flying to Houston to intercept new iPhone 16s just as they were being delivered to AT&T customers.

“They came in and rented two cars from us,” said Desmond Garrick, owner of Ride Away Rentals. “They seemed pretty young, but they didn't seem like they were going to cause us too much trouble.”

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Over the next 48 hours, a dashboard camera recorded nearly their every move as they drove through various Houston neighborhoods.

“We found out the dashcam was still connected, so we said, OK, let's take a look at it and see what's going on,” Garrick said.

They were seen following FedEx drivers on their delivery runs, but police say this was intentional and strategic. They had tracking numbers for multiple customer deliveries and knew exactly where they needed to go.

Garrick's video helped police make sense of the situation.

“We also have GPS tracking on all of our vehicles, so we knew exactly which houses they went to, and we turned everything over to the detective,” Garrick said. “They were pretty happy about it.”

Perry is seen on camera approaching a porch, but she appears to be just a few minutes early. The phone had not been delivered yet. She returns shortly after and grabs it after delivery.

In another clip, Dye is seen confronting a FedEx driver at a mall. According to police, Dye tried to convince the driver to hand over the iPhone 16 shipment by giving him a real tracking number.

“He tried to get the packages directly from the truck,” Garrick said.

Deer Park police stopped Dye and Perry on Saturday. They found four stolen iPhone 16s in the car.

But how two teenagers from Detroit got the tracking data of customers in the Houston area remains the big question for investigators.

Sources told KHOU 11 News that there may be additional suspects involved in the incident and police are continuing to investigate whether this is a much larger operation.

“When I heard about it, I thought there must be someone else behind it,” Garrick said.

These two suspects were scheduled to stay in Houston for a week before flying back north, so it is likely that there were more victims.

Deer Park police told KHOU 11 News they are working with AT&T's fraud prevention department to find out more about how this customer tracking data may have fallen into the wrong hands.