A 29-year-old New Jersey man stole more than $15,000 in cryptocurrency after he swiped a Connecticut resident’s cellphone at an airport in California and later tried to apologize to the victim by email, authorities said.

Darren Carter, of the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, was charged with identity theft, police in Westport, Connecticut said in a statement Friday.

At one point in the four-month investigation, police said Carter mistakenly sent an apology email to a detective that he intended for the victim, authorities said.

Carter was in the Salem County jail on unrelated charges when Westport police detectives traveled to South Jersey on Aug. 26 to arrest him following the investigation, officials said.

The victim went to Westport police on April 17, explaining that $15,472.31 had been transferred out of his Coinbase account. Police later learned the cryptocurrency had been converted to U.S. currency and moved into a PayPal account hours after the phone was stolen.

After executing several search warrants, investigators said they eventually traced the crime to Carter. The stolen $15,472.31 was recovered from PayPal and returned to the victim.

Carter was extradited to Connecticut, where he was unable to post $150,000 bail.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman.

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