Charlotte TikTok Star Enlists Followers' Help After Finding Phone In Lake

Thanks to the internet, and the help of over a million views, a local TikTok star was able to reunite a Charlotte man with his lost phone.

In a video posted to his popular TikTok account, Alex Presley, of Cornelius, documented his dive into Lake Norman, something he has done many times. Where he normally finds long-lost sunglasses hidden in the depths of the sandy bottom of the lake, he ended up finding a set of keys and an iPhone during his recent trip.

That's when Presley set on a mission to find the owner of the phone, saying it would bring good karma into the new year. He posted the video for his 2.3 million followers to see, and as of January 14, it has garnered 1.5 million views.

"Tiktok do the right thing," the 25-year-old captioned the video. "Help me find the owner and let's go into 2021 on a good note!"

Presley left the water-logged phone in rice for a few days and was surprised to see that it still worked. After charging it and finding the phone locked, he took a video of the phone's background — a photo that appeared to be a man and his two daughters.

Within a day, the phone's owner was found. Dan Nocella, who lived nearby, lost his phone during trip to the lake with friends. He was blown away by Presley's act of kindness.

"Just the fact of him doing that," he said, "and then following through on it, and you know, wanting to give something back to somebody, that was awesome."

Nocella said he is grateful to get his family photos back ... hopefully. He can't remember the passcode to unlock it but will likely get help to restore it.

Photo: Getty Images