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Quick-Thinking NYPD Officer Tracks Down Suspected iPhone Thief

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- They don't call them smart phones for nothing.

An iPhone snatched from a woman shopping at a midtown Manhattan department store was recovered via the phone's tracking system.

Police said the 24-year-old woman was sitting near the entrance of the Tuci Italia store on Sixth Avenue around 7 p.m. Thursday when a man armed with a handgun grabbed her phone and fled.

Police searched the area but came up empty.

That's when Police Officer Robert Garland asked for the victim's iTunes account and used Apple's iCloud feature on his own device to track the phone's location to a nearby intersection.

Police said when 40-year-old George Bradshaw walked past the officers, the victim's phone began to beep.

Bradshaw has been charged with robbery and criminal possession of stolen property.

No weapon was recovered.

(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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