WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A man was arrested Friday night and charged with Grand Theft and resisting arrest without violence after police say he stole two cell phones at SunFest.
A West Palm Beach police officer working in an overtime capacity at SunFest was positioned at one of the party barge entrance/exit points at 10:38 p.m. and was actively on the lookout for a suspect described by victims to be a medium build Hispanic male wearing a black shirt and backwards black hat with the letters "AERO" on it.
The officer observed a man matching that description and asked the man if he could speak with him and if he had anything in his backpack.
According to police, the man, later identified as Jose Ramon Lugo Torres, handed the backpack to the officer and began to quickly create distance between himself and the officer and his backpack.
According to an affidavit, the officer attempted to grab Torres' shirt and told him to stop, while Torres began to pull away forcefully.
At that time another West Palm Beach officer and a Palm Beach Gardens police officer observed the struggle and assisted putting the suspect on the ground.
Officers saw two cell phones fall from Torres' body onto the ground: a rose gold iPhone X valued at $800 and a red iPhone 8 Plus valued at $800.
The owner of the rose gold iPhone X was located and they told police that they did want to press charges against Torres.
The owner of the red iPhone 8 Plus has not yet been located and additional charges may follow.
Jose Ramon Lugo Torres was charged with Resisting an Officer without Violence and Grand Theft.
West Palm Beach police remind people attending SunFest to keep their phones secure as 40 other phones were lost or stolen on Friday night.
