Montgomery County police used cell phone technology to catch a suspect accused of shooting and killing a man in the woods behind a posh Germantown neighborhood, police said in court documents.
In recent years law enforcement agencies have increasingly relied on the tracking of cell phones to not only put criminals and terrorists in jail, but to also rescue kidnap victims, police said.
Last month, Montgomery County police charged Anton Powell, 20, of Gaithersburg, with shooting and killing Jabari Hardin Jr., 23, of Silver Spring, on the Great Seneca Trail in Germantown. Powell was a well-known crack and marijuana dealer who was on probation stemming from a previous drug possession conviction.
According to court documents, the two likely met in the woods on June 19 for a drug deal that for unspecified reasons went wrong and ended with Hardin shot several times. His body was found by a jogger the following morning, and Powell was arrested on June 21.
Police said in court documents that a tip led them to Powell’s cell phone and they were able to pin Powell and Hardin at the scene of the crime by tracking their cell phone locations.
It’s not the first time tracking technology has bested criminals in the area.
A District of Columbia police source has told The Examiner that the auto theft unit recently used the GPS in a stolen car to track the thieves who entered various locations into the navigation system.
Tracking also has been used to find kidnap victims, said Fairfax County police spokeswoman Shelley Broderick.
“We have had instances where a person has called from a cell phone and we’ve been able to locate the area where they are,” Broderick said, adding, “we use any investigative tool that we can in locating any victim.”
If that seems a bit vague, it’s for a good reason, said Arlington County police spokesman John Lisle.
“Whatever technology we have, our capabilities are not something [police] want to talk about,” Lisle said.
Examiner Staff Writer Scott McCabe contributed to this report.
