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Arrested man accused of stealing Orlando police officer's iPhone from squad car

ORLANDO, Fla. — From inside his cell, Daniel Stache of Wisconsin explained how he went from staying at the Hilton near Walt Disney World to staying as a guest at the Orange County Jail.

"I was at Downtown Disney, just looking around," Stache said.

The 26-year-old took a cab to Moe's near the Mall at Millenia to meet a friend.

When he arrived, he claims his credit card wasn't working to pay the fare, and his friend didn't have any cash either.

Orlando police arrested him and stuck him in the back of a patrol car, accused of stiffing the cab driver out of $34, a misdemeanor crime.

But it's what happened afterward that has him in even more trouble.

"I saw there was an iPhone in the back of the squad car," Stache said.

It was a white 32 gigabyte iPhone 4S.

Stache said he grabbed it and planned to keep it.

"I picked it up and put it into my shoe. I was going to smuggle the cellphone into prison, which was kind of stupid," Stache said.

He said he didn't know it belonged to Officer Alexander Kipp.

Officer Kipp's phone was equipped with the "find my iPhone" application to help track his phone.

It pinpointed the location as the squad car was heading to the Orange County Jail, and the phone alarm sounded.

Once the transporting officer pulled into the jail, he found the phone in Stache's shoe.

"Did you hear the alert?" asked Channel 9's Jeff Deal said.

"Yeah," Stache said.

"What did you think?" Deal asked.

"I was like 'Oh Jesus,'" Stache said.

"You knew you were caught?" asked Deal.

"Yeah," said Stache.

Stache said all his belongings are still at the Hilton, and he doesn't know when he'll be able to get out.