FORT WALTON BEACH - A homeless man walked into a store and stole a cell phone because he needed the "book and charger" for his own phone, he told a Fort Walton Beach Police officer.
On Nov. 15 the man, who is 51 years old and homeless, walked into the Family Dollar store on Eglin Parkway and walked over to the phone center. The clerk on duty saw him remove a phone from its peg by either tearing it off or cutting it off. She asked the man if he needed help and noticed he was trying to get the phone out of its packaging. She got the phone away from him and told him to leave the store. When she returned the phone she noticed another phone was missing.
Police found the man in the parking lot at Starcade. He admitted to taking the phone and said he needed the "book and charger out of it for his own telephone," the officer wrote in the arrest report. He said he threw away the phone.
Officers couldn't find the phone, an AT&T Fusion2 valued at $100.
The man was charged with retail theft.