Police use cellphones to find stolen truck, arrest 36-year-old man for theft

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids police arrested a 36-year-old man last week after he allegedly was caught on surveillance video parking a stolen truck in the parking lot of Target in southwest Cedar Rapids.

According to the criminal complaint, the truck was stolen from an address in Blairstown. Police said investigators used the victim's cellphone to locate the truck at 3400 Edgewood Rd. SW in Cedar Rapids. The cellphone, investigators said, was under the seat in the truck when the vehicle was taken.

A second phone also was in the truck at the time of the theft, the compliant states. That phone was located near Wilson Avenue SW. That phone was found by a city sanitation worker.

Investigators said the second phone was unlocked and had been used to log in to a Facebook account belonging to Joseph V. Kremer.

Investigators used security footage from the Target parking lot to determine Kremer had driven the truck and left it at that location.

Kremer faces a charge of first-degree theft. He was arrested Friday

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