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Cell-site data analysis nabs robber who used mobile phone during heists

License plate readers, parking lot cameras, and social-media posts also doom suspect.

Surveillance video shows two suspects during bank robberies across the US Southeast.

A woman charged in connection to a string of armed jewelry store heists was arrested after the authorities analyzed cell-site data of telephone calls made during the nine-month robbery spree across the US Southeast, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

The bureau said in court documents that the 24-year-old suspect, Abigail Kemp, wore an earpiece and was talking into it during several of the robberies. Store employees were tied up and shoppers were held at gunpoint during the robberies. At one incident in Florida in August, in which the Georgia woman allegedly netted $400,000 in jewelry, the FBI said (PDF) that the suspect "was observed with a cellular telephone and wearing a cellular telephone earpiece during the robbery and was heard speaking to someone. At one point during the robbery, the earpiece fell out of the white female's ear and she promptly put it back in."

"Based on an analysis of cellular tower information obtained by law enforcement, telephone number (404) 630-2685 appeared at or near all of the robbery locations in Panama City Beach, Florida, Woodstock, Georgia, and Blufton, South Carolina, during the time that the robberies discussed above were being committed," according to an FBI arrest warrant. "A check of law enforcement databases revealed telephone number (404) 630-2685 is associated with an individual named Abigail Kemp." Ars called that number and left a voice message.

The affidavit did not identify the person she was calling but said Kemp was in "regular communications" with the number (305) 492-3547 "at or near the time of the robberies." Ars also called that number and left a voice message. The woman is charged with multiple robbery counts. The court docket does not list whether she has an attorney.

The woman had allegedly posted to social media photos of the vehicle used in the robberies, the bureau said. And Georgia's license plate reader system "reveals a number of contacts with the vehicle at various locations during the time period of the robberies," the FBI said in its arrest-warrant request to a federal judge. The FBI said in court records that the alleged getaway vehicle was a Honda Civic LX, which was captured on Walmart surveillance video nearby one of the Florida robberies in August.

"A check of Abigail Kemp's social media accounts revealed a photograph of a maroon Honda Civic, which your affiant compared to the parking lot surveillance video of the Walmart in Panama City Beach, Florida, and the Pier Park shopping center where Reed's Jewelry is located. Based on your affiant's observations, training and experience, the vehicles appear to be the same," the bureau said in its arrest warrant application.

The FBI said the woman was arrested Saturday with somebody else, but it declined to provide details. Last week, the bureau said it was searching for an accomplice who was described as "a black male suspect in his late 30s or early 40s and approximately 6’0” tall and 250 pounds." That suspect is also seen on surveillance video during at least three of the robberies, the FBI said.

The FBI also said that friends of the woman reported that the suspect was wearing jewelry that they did not believe she could afford.

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Channel Ars Technica