Woman claims her iPhone was stolen from Walmart restroom

A Gore women is charged with a felony count of grand larceny after she reportedly took another woman’s iPhone from a restroom inside Sallisaw Walmart.

Denna L. Beach, 57, was formally charged on Jan. 20 in Sequoyah County District Court after a bench warrant was issued for her arrest the same day. She received a $5,000 bond and as of press time, is scheduled for a Wednesday arraignment.

The reporting party told Sallisaw police she went into a restroom stall with her daughter and placed her iPhone on the toilet paper dispenser. Upon leaving the restroom, the reporting party said she realized she’d left her phone behind and went back to retrieve it, but was unable to locate it.

Police reviewed video footage from Walmart which reportedly showed the reporting party and her daughter leaving the restroom and another female entering. The female can then be seen leaving the restroom with a Walmart sack in hand and exiting the store, according to the probable cause affidavit.

On Jan. 11, police contacted the reporting party for a followup where they learned she had utilized the ‘Find my iPhone” setting to track the whereabouts of the cell phone. The iPhone’s last known location showed it to be at a Gore residence. Authorities traveled to the location due to the vehicle in the driveway reportedly matching the description of the one that the woman left in following the alleged theft.

At the residence, the vehicle’s registration reportedly came back to Beach but she was nowhere to be found. The following day, police were granted a search warrant and returned to look for the iPhone where they found Beach in a bedroom.

Beach told police she did go to Walmart that day and used the restroom before exiting the store, but she never saw an iPhone in the stall. She claimed she had two cell phones of her own and agreed to show them to police, according to the affidavit.

During a search of Beach’s vehicle police reported finding the missing iPhone behind the front passenger seat. Beach continued to deny knowing anything about the phone or where it had came from. The reporting party was contacted and able to give authorities the passcode to the phone, which reportedly worked and the iPhone was determined to belong to the reporting party.

If found guilty of the crime, District Attorney Jack Thorp said it is punishable by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a term of not more than two years, or in the county jail for a term not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both fine, imprisonment, and restitution.