By Frank Main, Chicago Sun-Times
Original publication date: Feb. 19

Ed Scanlan used his iPhone to fight back against the guys who allegedly mugged him last week.

Scanlan, a young Chicago executive, was robbed of his phone, driver’s license, credit cards and $220 cash.

His secret weapon: a computer service that allows iPhone users to find their phones using GPS technology.

“I was thinking, ‘I will track these guys down,’” Scanlan said. “I called 911 and said ‘I have been mugged.’ I said, ‘I know where these guys are.’ And I gave them updates on where the phone was.”

The 911 operator relayed the changing locations of the phone to Chicago police officers, who nabbed the alleged thieves at a Mobil gas station at 1750 N. Western Ave. — nearly a mile and a half southeast of the holdup, which happened at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Scanlan, 33, said a police officer picked him up at his home and took him to the gas station, where he identified the men as the robbers.

The suspects — Anthony Diaz, 21, and Robert Rodriguez, 22 — are parolees.

Diaz, a convicted robber with a tattoo of two flaming bullets on his neck, was wanted for a parole violation, records show.

Rodriguez, whose record includes convictions for drug possession and burglary, was caught with Scanlan’s credit cards and driver’s license, police said.

Each was ordered held in lieu of $90,000 bail Friday, officials said.

Scanlan said he was robbed after he walked from his Logan Square home to the Buona Terra restaurant in the 2500 block of North California to pick up dinner.

“I was probably a pretty good mark, carrying my food home in a big bag,” he said. “They said, ‘Give us everything you have.’ ”

Scanlan was accosted in an alley in the 2700 block of West Logan Boulevard. He said they didn’t show a weapon, but he handed over the cash and phone. Then the robbers wanted more. They patted him down and felt a wallet. He futilely tried to persuade them to let him keep it.

“I envisioned the hassle of canceling my cards, but they took it and told me to turn around and nothing would happen to me,” he said.

When he looked back, the robbers had vanished and he ran home to use his computer.

Scanlan — the CEO of a fast-growing company called Total Attorneys and a member of the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame — said he was amazed at how many officers reacted to his 911 call.

“The cops made my day, and I guess I made theirs,” Scanlan said.

For years, Chicago detectives have used global-positioning system technology to track stolen cars and hunt down killers and robbers who steal their victims’ phones. But the detectives who worked on Scanlan’s case said it was the first time a victim had used Apple’s Find My iPhone application to guide them to the suspects.

It’s been done in other cities, though. In 2009, for instance, a Pittsburgh man helped police track his stolen phone to a Wal-Mart where the officers arrested three suspects.

When an iPhone user wants to track his phone, he can log on to me.com, enter his Apple ID and the location of the phone pops up on a map on the computer.

If a user loses a phone, he can remotely disable it, erase all personal information, have it display a text message for whomever finds it — or even make it blast a sound at full volume.

“It works great,” Scanlan said.

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