5 men facing beating counts over stolen iPhone

A man whose iPhone had been stolen at a party used a tracking system to find it, enlisted his buddies for muscle, then beat up the guy they thought stole it, Upper Darby police said yesterday.

Problem was, police say, they got the wrong guy. But instead of apologizing, the men continued to beat him, then stole his wallet, said Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

The five men - who ranged in age from 24 to 32 and are from New York, Massachusetts or Connecticut - were in the area to attend the Penn Relays, Chitwood said. They were at a party in West Philadelphia after the relays when one man's iPhone and iPod disappeared, police said.

After frisking everyone who left the party, the men used a tracking device to trace the phone to the area of 69th Street near Marshall Road, in Upper Darby, about 4:50 a.m., police said.

They saw a 21-year-old Yeadon man who had been at the same party and assumed he had stolen their gadgets, Chitwood said. Four of the five men got out of the car, beat the man to the ground and stole his wallet, Chitwood said.

Three employees at a nearby grocery store witnessed the assault and called police with a description of the car, which authorities stopped at Church Lane and Radbourne Road, Chitwood said. Police found the victim's wallet inside the vehicle, he said.

The men were charged with robbery, assault and related offenses and jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail each. "They thought it was a big joke until they got whacked with $50,000 bail," Chitwood said. "This is the wrong town to go around beating and robbing people."