A man from Miami, Florida, has been arrested and jailed on two counts of felony theft and one count of misdemeanor theft for his role in stealing cell phones from Nashville tourists.
Orelvy Hernandez Montero, 54, who remains under investigation, was arrested by officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Sunday after one victim was able to track her stolen cell phone to a vehicle possessed at the time by Montero (pictured above).
A 25-year-old woman from Illinois, according to MNPD, was inside Layer Cake restaurant on 3rd Avenue South on Sunday when she discovered that her $1,200 iPhone was missing from her purse. She tracked her phone via her Apple Watch to a parking lot behind the restaurant.
Before approaching the parking lot, the woman approached MNPD officers from the downtown Entertainment District Unit and asked for help. The officers went to the parking lot and located a maroon Jeep Waggoneer from which the victim’s phone was pinging.
The victim’s phone, according to MNPD, was “clearly visible” inside the Jeep.
Footage taken from surveillance cameras in the area showed a man, subsequently identified as Montero, coming and going from the vehicle.
While MNPD officers were conducting surveillance on the Jeep, Montero returned, saw the police, and jumped into an Uber, however, was taken into custody before the Uber could leave.
Inside Montero’s pocket, MNPD notes, was a key to the Jeep. Montero was then taken to the Central Precinct, where he refused to answer detectives’ questions.
The Jeep was impounded after MNPD officers recovered 17 cell phones, a laptop computer, and a woman’s wallet while executing a search warrant on the vehicle.
Many of the phones recovered by the officers, according to MNPD, were wrapped in aluminum foil in an attempt to diminish their signals.
The wallet and one of the phones recovered in the vehicle were claimed by tourists who visited two different bars on Broadway in downtown Nashville on Saturday.
MNPD’s Central Precinct Detective Brent Fisher is leading the investigation to continue identifying the owners of the other phones and the laptop found in the Jeep.
As for Montero, his case has been sent to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to booking information by the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Orelvy Hernandez Montero” by Nashville. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Carol M. Highsmith.
