Cell phone company employee charged with stealing phones and using stolen personal information to open accounts

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tidra Chakakhan Brown, 39, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with four counts of stealing cell phones and personal identification information and opening accounts in the names of the victims to make the thefts look like legitimate purchases.

Brown is a sales associate for OSL, a third-party cellular services company that engages in cell phone provider contracts with Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. As part of her job, she sells cell phones and contracts for the phones from the electronics section of all three Gainesville Walmart stores. In each case, the victims learned about the fraud when they received a cell phone bill for a phone they never purchased.

On June 9, she allegedly stole a Samsung Galaxy S24 valued at $1,349 from the Butler Plaza Walmart.

On June 22, she allegedly stole an iPhone 15 Pro valued at $1,049 at the northeast Walmart.

On August 5, she allegedly stole an iPhone 15 valued at $979 at the northwest Walmart.

On August 6, she allegedly stole an iPhone 15 Pro valued at $1,249 at the Butler Plaza Walmart.

Accounts were set up with the personal information of four different victims; the accomplices who “purchased” the phones paid only the sales tax on the phones.

A Gainesville Police Department officer contacted a Walmart Loss Prevention Officer, who found security footage of the third transaction. The video reportedly showed a man purchasing the phone; the same man was reportedly involved in an August 18 incident at the Butler Plaza Walmart store and is also a suspect in a similar incident in Hillsborough County.

The officer next reviewed surveillance video of each of the four incidents and learned that Brown was the clerk for each transaction, although they were at different stores. During one transaction, the officer reported, the purchaser never gave Brown any form of ID, and she could be seen typing information into the computer while looking down at her phone. The officer noted, “It is most likely that she has the stolen information on her mobile device.”

In surveillance video of the June 22 incident, the officer reported that two different people “purchased” the phones; when the transactions were complete, Brown reportedly walked toward the store exit with the two accomplices, and they waved to her as they left.

The officer also reported that Brown currently works at Shands in the laundry and linen department. The University of Florida Police Department has received multiple reports of Shands patients’ cell phones going missing and then being found in the laundry department. Further investigation is ongoing to determine whether this is where Brown got the victims’ personal information.

Brown has been charged with four counts of grand theft and four counts of criminal use of the personal identification of another person. She has no criminal convictions; Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $160,000.

This investigation is still ongoing.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.