J.D. Gallop

FLORIDA TODAY

A thrift store employee suspected by Palm Bay police of stealing a customer’s cell phone and then taunting the person on Facebook was arrested and booked into jail, authorities reported.

Derek Thomas Reimer, 25, was charged with grand theft of $300 to $5,000 after Palm Bay police were called to the Goodwill store at 1155 Malabar Road to investigate reports of a cellphone theft, records show.

Reimer was arrested last Wednesday after detectives subpoenaed the store for a copy of the video surveillance taken during the time of the incident Nov. 21.

Police said a couple had left the store on Nov. 21 and were at home when they realized the husband’s Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and its leather carrying case were missing.

The couple then used a phone tracking system that led them back to the store.

Photos: Arrest mugshots 1-3-17

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A search, with help of a store manager, did not turn up the phone, police report. The same day the couple returned home and found a message posted on the husband’s Facebook site that read, ‘LMAO, you forgot your phone old man,” reports show. The couple then contacted police to investigate the suspected theft.

A review of the store's video surveillance shows Reimer taking the phone from where the husband was sitting and walking into a nearby bathroom where the phone was found later.

Reimer was booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex. No court date has been set.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter at @JDGallop