Suspect hands cops stolen phones to call home

A man who handed police several stolen smart phones and suggested they “call his house and get the rest’’ after he could only pay half of a $23.50 taxi fare was charged with felony theft when the cabbie drove him to a north side police station.
The driver walked into the station at 850 W. Addison St. about 5 a.m. Sunday and told police his fare, Alejandro Galeana, was refusing to pay a $23.50 bill.
.Officers approached Galeana, 27, of the 5800 block of North Broadway, and told him to exit the cab and when he did, they saw two cell phones in his hand. An officer asked Galeana if he had the cash to pay his fare, but could only come up with $12, so he told officers to “call his house and get the rest’’.
Galeano then pulled out a third phone saying: “Here – call’’ .
The taxi driver took off after getting the $12 and said the rest was a loss. But as police continued talking with Galeano, they found that the man had two additional phones. 
Police turned on the phones and discovered that the boyfriend of a woman who was the owner of the phone had called that number. Police then were able to speak with him and found out that the woman had been at a bar earlier when her phone was stolen by someone who had bumped into her.
Several of the other phones had messages on them listing a separate phone number to call if the stolen phones were found.
Galeana was arrested at 5:20 a.m. Sunday at the police station and charged with four counts of felony theft, for stealing four phones from four different people.
He stole the phones from people at the Red Ivy Chicago Sports Bar, 3519 N. Clark St, and the Big City Tap, 1010 W. Belmont Ave.