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Kids come to the rescue after car is stolen Anthony Cervantes, left, and Kellen Thomey smile as they open a thank-you gift from Patty Davis as a reward for finding and returning her stolen phone. Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Monday Jan 30, 2017 at 12:01 AM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune MEDFORD — Medford Realtor Patty Davis endured a whirlwind 48 hours last week after her 2010 Lexus SUV was stolen. But two Medford 12-year-olds and the kindness of strangers on social media helped to partially restore her faith in humanity. Davis' car was taken while she met with a potential home buyer at a property off Tahitian Avenue in Medford. With temperatures hovering in the 30s, Davis left her car — and the heat — running and locked the doors during the home showing. A forgotten valet key in the glove box, however, prevented the doors from locking. Police say Talent resident Jordan Alyene Card and at least one accomplice took advantage of that to steal the SUV for an extended joyride. The Lexus was recovered after a crash in Grants Pass the following day, but the incident left Davis missing many belongings, including her purse, garage door opener and even her mailbox key. Probably the worst hit for a real estate professional, hundreds of contacts and a slew of other information she relies on every day were lost with her phone. Enter the Medford 12-year-olds. Walking home from school, sixth-grader Kellen Thomey noticed an unattended iPhone 6 sitting on a fence along a sidewalk off Delta Waters Drive. At first, Kellen said, he set it on a nearby fence in case its owner was on the lookout for it. When the phone remained on the fence, he recruited his friend and fellow sixth-grader Anthony Cervantes to help find out who it belonged to. "I told Anthony about it and we went back to get it and took it to his house to plug it in," Kellen said. "We turned it on," Anthony said, "and it had 20 percent so we looked through settings and called the number that said "My Number." While the phone was lost, Davis and her partner at Keller Williams, Tara Jacobi, had been busy posting on social media and notifying local real estate groups to warn others about leaving their cars running and asking for help finding the missing vehicle. Both women said they suspected the phone was tossed to prevent tracking the stolen SUV. After hearing from the two boys and planning to meet them, Davis got another promising call — a fellow Realtor had followed her car from a grocery store in Grants Pass shortly after dinnertime on Sunday. When Grants Pass police arrived — and after a high-speed chase — they arrested Card and recovered an assortment of purses, checks stolen from mailboxes, drug paraphernalia and cellphones. Also in the car was more of Davis' missing property. Card, whose accomplice managed to elude police, was arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and four probation violations — two each for meth possession and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle — second degree theft, third degree theft and multiple holds from out of county agencies. Davis, ever the optimist, was thrilled to meet the boys, and later joked that her car had "never been driven so fast" as it was in the high speed chase. She also was relieved that her dog, a papillon named Juju, who often accompanies her to work, was not in the car on the day it was taken. "I felt very vulnerable, with all my information out there, for two or three nights, but it's all just stuff and stuff can be replaced," Davis said. "At least Juju wasn't in the car and nobody got hurt. It was amazing to see how many people were willing to help." Having had his own family's car broken into in recent months, when he learned about what had happened to Davis car, Anthony said he was happy to know he and his friend had helped in some way. "It's really sad that people break into people's cars and steal," said the boy. Davis and Jacobi gave a small reward to each of the boys on Friday and applauded their honesty in returning the phone. With increasing car thefts and other crimes in recent years, Jacoby told the boys, community members like them are a big help to local police and serve as "a great big neighborhood watch for the whole community." Davis told the boys, "A lot of people are not as open and truthful as you are. When you see things that aren't right, keep speaking up and doing the right thing. That's what we need in our world to make it better." — Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. Email her at [email protected].