Alleged Thief Takes SEPTA Police Chief Up on Offer of Amnesty For Return of Stolen Phone

PHIILADELPHIA (WTXF)- SEPTA police were looking to strike a deal with an alleged thief Friday night.

Their Chief, Thomas Nestel III, wanted a stolen phone returned, but decided to take a different approach instead of tracking the suspect down.

So Nestel put out a tweet saying there wouldn't be any trouble, if whoever had it did the right thing.

Nestel posted a photo of the suspect on Twitter that was captured by surveillance footage.

Police say this woman took a phone that had been left at the Cecil B. Moore Station on North Broad street this past Sunday night.

Along with the photo, Nestel wrote, "Amnesty until 5pm on 12/4. Give Transit Police the phone that you took at CB Moore station & you won't be arrested."

That's right. Authorities gave her or whoever had the phone until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 4th to turn that phone into the police.

Sure enough, a little over 24 hours after Chief Nestel III posted the amnesty offer, he tweeted that the cell phone had been returned to Transit Police.

A short time after Nestel posted his offer, he was met with opposition to his method.

He explained his officer saying, "This can help vic get phone back and give young woman who made bad choice a chance to make it right."