Buster

Cops: Man Stole Woman's Phone, Recorded Lewd Video, E-Mailed Clip To Her Family, Friends

Police allege that an Indiana man stole a woman's cell phone, used it to record himself masturbating, and then posted the explicit video to the victim's Facebook page and e-mailed it to her family and friends.

Anthony Casey, 29, was arrested this week after he failed to show up for a court hearing in connection with felony theft and misdemeanor obscenity charges filed against him by New Albany cops.

Pictured in the adjacent mug shot, Casey was released yesterday from the county jail on his own recognizance and is due in Superior Court on October 3.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Casey swiped the Droid phone from Stephanie Allen's purse, which she had left outside a bar. During an exchange of texts with the victim, Casey (who wrote from Allen's phone) "stated that he was sorry for taking the phone" and would return it.

However, by the time Allen and a cop retrieved the phone in late-June from the home Casey shares with his mother, the masturbation video had already been uploaded to her Facebook page and e-mailed to family, friends, and the principal and other faculty members at her children's school.

As first reported by the News and Tribune, when questioned by police, Casey confessed to stealing the phone, remarking that he "screwed up because he drank too much." Casey said that he did not remember recording (or distributing) the masturbation video because he "'blacked out' from the alcohol."

Casey told investigators that he "felt horrible that he took her phone," adding that he has "a severe problem with alcohol."