A local dentist and his dental assistant are being credited with tracking down a thief in the Broadmoor area of Shreveport using an Iphone app.

A dental assistant working in a dental office in the Broadmoor area noticed her purse was missing shortly after 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The purse contained her wallet, her credit cards, some cash and her Iphone. She was extremely upset and worried, however her boss, a local dentist asked her if she had the “Find My Iphone” app on her phone.

“I just installed it last night,” said the dental assistant, who asked not to be identified.

That’s when the two of them sprung into action to find the thief on the loose. The dentist pulled up the application on the internet and told her that her phone was moving and gave her the location of the street. That’s when the dental assistant headed towards her new car, only to realize that her car keys were also in the purse.

The dentist, who also asked not to be identified, gave her a ride and began to track the Iphone that was slowly moving down the roadway near Fern Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. The dentist noticed that the iphone was moving very slowly and suspected that the thief must have been on foot.

As the two began to look around they spotted a black male with a backpack in the area where the application said the phone was located. They alerted Shreveport Police Cpl. Donald Henry who was working a traffic complaint in the area.

When Henry attempted to stop the black male, he fled on foot that resulted in a brief foot pursuit.

The suspect, later identified as 31year-old Dewayne Gibbs of the 1800 block of Jenkins Street in Shreveport was taken into custody. Gibbs’ backpack contained all of the missing items and confessed to police that he was staying at a local shelter, and that he was going back there to check out the goods that he had stolen. Henry arrested Gibbs and booked him into the Shreveport City Jail on a charge of felony theft.

Police believe Gibbs entered the dental office through an unlocked back door and stole the purse.