Gainesville man arrested for stealing phone from laundromat and trying to make victim pay to get it back

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Holland Christopher Coburn, 46, was arrested yesterday and charged with grand theft after allegedly stealing a phone from a laundromat and then trying to get the victim to pay him to get it back.

The victim told a Gainesville Police Department officer that he was washing clothes at Wash King Laundromat (210 NE 16th Avenue) at about 1:30 a.m. on November 16 when he fell asleep; when he woke up, his iPhone 15 was missing. He said he tried to track the phone, but it had been turned off. At about 11:30 a.m., the victim called the police to say that his phone had pinged at the Waldo Road Walmart (1800 NE 12 Avenue), and it was now at a nearby residence. He said his brother had received a call from his cell phone, and the caller said, “I’ll give you your phone back for a small fee.”

The officer spoke with the Loss Prevention Officer at Walmart, who found surveillance video showing a white man, later identified as Coburn, trying unsuccessfully to pawn a phone at the phone kiosk at about 11:30 a.m.

The officer then went to the residence where the phone had pinged, and someone there said the man in the surveillance video lived next door. The officer went to the neighboring home and located Coburn.

Post Miranda, Coburn reportedly said he had found the phone on the sidewalk outside the laundromat and had tried to call the owner to return it, but he believed that the owner was being an “a**hole” to him, so he didn’t want to return the money without getting money for it; he also said he didn’t know whether the person he spoke with was the actual owner of the phone. He said he decided to “make some money” off the phone to pay his bills and tried to sell it at the phone kiosk, but it didn’t work, so he “ditched” the phone on a “trail” on his way home. The officer reported that Coburn was uncooperative with attempts to locate the cell phone.

Coburn has been charged with grand theft. He has seven felony convictions (non-violent) and 10 misdemeanor convictions (non-violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2021. He was arrested in March 2025 for stealing a bicycle, tampering with evidence, and possession of drug paraphernalia; he was formally charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, entered a plea of nolo contendere to the charge, and served 30 days in the Alachua County Jail.

Judge Jonathan Ramsey set bail at $10,000 on the new charge.

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.