A Provo woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing a cell phone while at court for a previous theft.
On Monday morning, an Orem Justice Court employee set her cell phone down on a chair and walked away, and a few minutes later, a woman sat down by the unattended phone, said Orem Police Sgt. Craig Martinez. Surveillance footage showed the woman pick something up and put it in her pocket and walk away and then the phone is gone, Martinez said.
The woman tried leaving the court house, but was startled by the deputies who provide security for the building, Martinez said. She sat on the stairs for a while, then went to the women's rest room before going into a probationary hearing for a 2012 shoplifting case she was convicted in.
While she was in her hearing, the cell phone's owner realized it was gone and notified law enforcement, who reviewed the surveillance footage, found the phone in the rest room and relayed the information to the prosecutors in the courtroom.
The judge immediately terminated the woman's probation and sentenced her to 90 days in jail.
mmcfall@sltrib.comTwitter: @mikeypanda