Suspects in iPhone 4 prototype theft sentenced today

October 11, 2011 By Mike Flacy

While the loss of the iPhone 4 prototype last year was a dark day for Apple security, the company got a chance to watch the two men involved in the theft receive a sentence for their crime

Earlier today, the two men involved in the theft of the iPhone 4 prototype pleaded no-contest to misdemeanor theft charges, reversing their earlier plea of not guilty. The no-contest plea allowed the court to find the men guilty and sentence them both to a year of probation, 40 hours of community service and a $250 fine paid directly to Apple. While the district attorney in the case asked for jail time for the theft of the smartphone, the judge was lenient on both the men due to a lack of prior criminal record as well as a record of service in the armed forces and college attendance. With the no-contest plea in place, this admission of guilt by the two men cannot be used by Apple in a civil case to recover further monetary damages.

The prototype iPhone 4 was left at a German beer garden called Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, California during a birthday celebration for Apple computer engineer Gray Powell. The phone was discovered by 21-year old Brian Hogan, one of the two men in the case, and his friend Sage Robert Wallower contacted tech publications on his behalf in an attempt to sell the iPhone 4 prototype. During the search, Wallower found a publication willing to purchase the stolen phone in exchange for exclusive access to the prototype for pictures and an article on the technology.Wallower and Powell sold the prototype to Gizmodo for an estimated $5000, but the gadget blog escaped prosecution in August 2011.

According to California law, a person is guilty of theft when that person locates a lost item and is aware of the identity of the owner, but decides to use the item for their own gain. The two men in the case were clearly responsible for finding Gray Powell, but decided to sell the prototype for their own monetary gain. Apple officials are still looking for a second iPhone prototype that was lost at a Mexican restaurant earlier this year and appears to have been sold on Craigslist for $200. Likely a prototype of the recently announced iPhone 4S, no recent progress has been made in locating the lost phone.

Showing 4 comments

Andrew St. Yves at 9:13pm 11th October 2011 So they sold the phone for $5000 dollars but only have to pay apple $250 dollars and get off on a misdemeanor... Epic win for them.
1. Ian Bell at 10:41pm 11th October 2011 Seriously. So stupid. And the Gizmodo writer got off scott free too.
  1. agafaba at 8:14am 12th October 2011 40 hours of community service and a year of probation as well though. In canada 40 hours of community service is $400 the government doesnt have to spend.
    Ian Bell at 10:12am 12th October 2011 I thought about it last night and I guess 40 hours of community service and a year of probation sounds about right. I mean we are talking about a phone that was lost in a bar. It's not like they broke into a house and stole it or anything. And it was eventually returned. I probably overreacted a bit.