The 58-year-old Corlette woman used a phone tracking app to locate her iPhone that she realised had gone missing from the room she was staying in at Tea Gardens Hotel on August 23.

The app tracked her phone to a house in Yamba Street, Hawks Nest.

She phoned police and about 11.20am the next day, August 24, officers made inquiries at the Yamba Street house.

After being let in by the owner of the house, the officers soon located items they believed to have been stolen in a room belonging to a 20-year-old Hawks Nest man.

Canon brand photography equipment including a lens, flash and battery were recovered, as well as sunglasses and a mobile phone.

Port Stephens Local Area Command crime manager Inspector George Radmore said the items were identified as being the property of the Corlette woman.

It is alleged the 20-year-old stole the items from the woman’s hotel room on August 23 before returning to the Yamba Street house.

The woman had not noticed anything else had gone missing except her phone.

Inspector Radmore said the 20-year-old offered no reasonable excuse for the items being found in his room after he was arrested. 

He was charged with receiving stolen property and granted conditional bail.

He will appear in Raymond Terrace Local Court on September 9.