I wonder if she's still smiling now that @ElCerritoPD has put her picture out there? pic.twitter.com/tJS6E8ZXab — Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 19, 2015 
 
 .@ElCerritoPD getting many tips about woman. Think suspect uploaded selfies from stolen phone to iCloud by mistake. pic.twitter.com/S2p8AxX2iR — Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 18, 2015 
 
 .@ElCerritoPD Cops don't think this suspect knew her selfies would transfer to ICloud from phone stolen from teen. pic.twitter.com/BwgIOmdfgN — Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 18, 2015 
 
 Police in El Cerrito are asking for the public's help to catch a woman they say is a violent suspect who may get caught because of her own mistake. And the case may be cracked by a selfie.According to authorities, the smiling woman in the selfies is actually a violent thief who beat up a teenage girl to steal the phone that took these pictures.A young El Cerrito High School student was walking to class talking on her iPhone when a car rolled up and a woman jumped out and demanded her phone and backpack and then started punching the girl."She hit the juvenile in the head several times causing some minor injuries to her facial area," said Sgt. Ian Wong. And actually caused her to lose consciousness and go to the ground."Several days later, while recovering from her injuries, the young victim found the selfies on her iCloud account and recognized the woman as her attacker."I don't think she knew it was being uploaded to the cloud. I think they were assuming it was on the factory default settings," Wong said.Students say nearly everyone has a smartphone, but some protect them better than others.While one student said she probably wouldn't do anything different, student Devin Emelo said, "Don't like be showing and trying to be flashy with your phone and stuff like that. Stop showing people you have nice stuff, because people might be wanting the stuff that you have."As for the woman who snapped those incriminating selfies, another student said, "That's kinda dumb to take pictures of yourself." ||||| Stay up to date on breaking news with our mobile app from the Apple app store or the Google Play store. 
 
 SAN JOSE — An alert passenger helped free two Washington children from a disturbing sexual-servitude scheme after her eyes darted to the smartphone screen of a man exchanging child-sex texts on a San Jose-bound flight, authorities said. 
 
 The suspect’s undoing appears to have been the large font he used to read and write the illicit messages, which he reportedly did in plain sight of other travelers, including the quick-thinking woman who reported it to the flight crew. 
 
 Police are hailing the passenger, a Seattle-area preschool teacher who asked not to be publicly identified, as a hero. 
 
 “It’s kind of mind-blowing,” said San Jose sex-crimes Detective Nick Jourdenais. “She gets on a plane, a normal citizen minding her business. A couple of hours later, she’s intervening on quite possibly the most traumatic thing children can go through. This was life-altering for them.” 
 
 She was on a Seattle-to-San Jose flight Monday on Southwest Airlines when she noticed a man sitting directly in front of her texting on his large smartphone, holding the device close to his face and in her line of sight. Jourdenais, who interviewed the witness, said the text messages she saw swiftly escalated from sexual fetishes to far worse. 
 
 “It was in large font, and she sees certain words and starts contemplating there’s something bigger there,” he said. “Then the conversation transitions to children. That’s the moment when she decided to preserve the evidence as best as she could.” 
 
 She took photos of some of the texts with her own smartphone and then quietly alerted the flight crew. They contacted San Jose police and its airport division stationed at Mineta San Jose International Airport, the destination for the flight. 
 
 “Kudos to his young lady. She went a step further,” said Sgt. Brian Spears, commander of the SJPD Internet Crimes Against Children task force. “Without us responding right away, he would have been lost.” 
 
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 San Jose police, along with San Francisco-based FBI agents, responded to the call and detained 56-year-old Tacoma resident Michael Kellar. Jourdenais and Michael O’Grady conducted an interview where Kellar freely consented to a search of his phone — he reportedly dismissed his text messages as nothing more than fantasy and role playing. The detectives then contacted their counterparts in Seattle. 
 
 The Seattle detectives, and FBI agents from that area, used the smartphone evidence to pinpoint a home in Tacoma where the woman exchanging texts with Kellar lived. That’s when they confirmed that the case was more than outlandish texts, and that two children ages 5 and 7 who lived at the home were being sexually abused. 
 
 Investigators contend that Kellar was making sexual requests for the children and that the woman, identified as 50-year-old Gail Burnworth, was carrying them out. 
 
 It appears that the woman “had access to children either as a caregiver or babysitter,” according to a statement from the city of Seattle. 
 
 Kellar was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of two felony counts each of attempted child molestation and solicitation of a sex crime. He is being held without bail. 
 
 Burnworth was booked into jail in Pierce County, Washington, on suspicion of felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, rape of a child, and dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 
 
 Jourdenais said the case was a powerful example of how vigilance can take many forms. 
 
 “We always preach ‘If you see something, say something.’ It was apparent to her to say something. She wasn’t going to take this home,” he said. “She sees herself as a guardian and protector. It should be acknowledged.” 
 
 Anyone with information about the case can contact sex-crimes Detective Nick Jourdenais or Detective Sgt. Brian Spears at 408-537-1397 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP or svcrimestoppers.org. 
 
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– People just don't learn, do they? A woman who allegedly stole a high school student's iPhone in California has given police a break in the case thanks to … a selfie—or rather, several of them. Police say an as-yet unidentified woman approached the 15-year-old student in El Cerrito on Nov. 5, demanding that she hand over her phone and backpack, reports the Los Angeles Times. When the girl refused, the suspect allegedly knocked her unconscious with a punch, took the student’s phone, dragged her a short distance, then took the girl's backpack, per the Oakland Tribune. The woman then escaped in a tan Honda or Toyota which was also carrying four males, authorities say. Days later, the student, who had to visit a hospital for treatment, found several smiling selfies of her alleged attacker on her iCloud account and sent them to police. "I don't think she knew it was being uploaded to the cloud. I think they were assuming it was on the factory default settings," an officer tells ABC7. Authorities have released three images of the woman—which show many more selfies were taken—and say tips are pouring in. (Click for more ill-advised selfies.)