Pierceton Woman Arrested For Phone Theft
WARSAW — A Pierceton woman was arrested after stealing a cellular device left behind at her place of work.
Rachelle Elizabeth Blankenship, 22, 240 EMS R4 Lane, Pierceton, also showing an address of 120 E. Center St., Burket, is being charged with theft, a level 6 felony.
On Dec. 19, 2018, an officer with the Warsaw Police Department was contacted by a female subject regarding a stolen phone. The female told the officer that she left her iPhone 7 at Steak n’ Shake and was informed by the restaurant’s manager that an employee may have taken it.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the officer spoke with a female server at the restaurant. The server said she found the phone and gave it to a female employee to take it where it was supposed to go. A supervisor at the restaurant said any lost property is supposed to go directly to a supervisor.
The supervisor said the female employee and her fiancée, identified as Blankenship, also an employee at Steak n’ Shake, both left without reporting the found phone.
On Dec. 20, the female employee and Blankenship both came to the Warsaw Police Department for an interview. Blankenship admitted that her fiancée gave her the phone and that she then took the phone back to her residence. The officer followed Blankenship home and was given the stolen iPhone.
Blankenship was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on March 13, with a $2,750 surety and cash bond.