By KEITH EPPS

A 9-year-old boy was placed in child protective services after police learned that he was stealing iPhones, apparently under the direction of two adults, police say.

Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Harvey said police aren’t sure about the relationship between the child and the adults, who are both in jail under no bond.

Harvey said the boy told police the child did not know his last name and has never been in school.

Harvey said an investigation began about 7 p.m. Thursday, when the Sheriff’s Office got a call about a stolen iPhone from Pro-Tax on Southpoint Plaza Way.

Around that same time, police were notified of a stolen iPhone from an employee at the AT&T Retail Store on Southpoint Parkway.

In both cases, police said, a woman created a distraction while the child grabbed the phone.

In the AT&T case, the child went behind the counter and got the employee’s personal phone, police said.

The victim at Pro-Tax and another witness gave descriptions of the suspects and the vehicle they left in. The vehicle was stopped a short time later at Jefferson Davis Highway and Market Street, which is not far from where the thefts took place.

The victim at AT&T used a locate feature to find that his phone was in the same location as the stopped suspect vehicle. A tone sounded, Harvey said, and deputies recovered the phone from the child.

The child then told police the location of the second phone, which had been tossed from the vehicle after the occupants realized they were being pulled over.

That phone was also recovered, but it was destroyed.

Harvey said the two suspects in the car were uncooperative with deputies and gave several false names and conflicting stories during the investigation.

Tillye Mason, 45, and Louis James Miller, 42, were both charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false identity to evade arrest. Miller was also wanted on a probation violation in Stafford.

Mason was also charged with two counts of grand larceny and two counts of conspiracy to commit grand larceny.

Harvey said police learned that she was already wanted in Spotsylvania and Stafford on 18 charges involving theft, fraud and failing to appear in court.

Two teenagers, ages 17 and 18, were also in the vehicle but neither was charged. The 17-year-old was turned over to his parents; Mason and Miller are in the Rappahannock Regional Jail.