A wireless phone salesman became a high-tech sleuth when a friend’s car was stolen in Chicago with his phone inside.

When Chicago musician and Web designer Eddie Kim had his car stolen in Chicago Friday night, he called his friend Matthew Carney, who lives in Interlochen, to help him cancel his phone service.

But Carney, who works for Sprint PCS in Traverse City, convinced Kim to keep the phone activated so that he could monitor the calls and possibly locate the car.

“I told him it may be the best tool he’s got working for him if he ever wants to see his car again,” Carney told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a story Thursday. “It was just kind of a lucky break that the guy was dumb enough to keep using the car and keep using the phone.”

Carney determined on Saturday morning that several calls had been made to a number in South Bend, Ind. He figured that the phone was being used in South Bend by connecting it to a signal tower there.

Kim called police in South Bend, but he could not convince them to take him seriously, Carney said.

After promising Carney that he would not confront anyone if he discovered his car, Kim went to South Bend.

Kim went to an address he found by entering the South Bend number on a reverse telephone look-up Web site.

Kim found an off-duty police officer who lived nearby and asked for help.

But Kim convinced the officer to help him just as he spotted his car driving away. A police chase involving a dozen patrol cars ensued and police eventually arrested an 18-year-old Chicago man.

Kim’s car was recovered Saturday night.