This is not really technology news — but it’s too random and crazy for us not to mention. Bay Area police revealed this week that a burglar stole around $60,000 worth of “computers and personal items” from the Palo Alto home of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. And no, it wasn’t a Gizmodo editor trying to get a scoop — Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery told the San Jose Mercury News that the choice of Jobs’s home was probably “totally random.”
The robbery took place on July 17, but was not made pubic until Monday, when formal charges were brought against the suspected burglar.
On August 2, authorities arrested Kariem McFarlin, 35, on suspicion that he committed the break-in. McFarlin is currently imprisoned in the county jail on $500,000 bail. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years and eight months behind bars for “excessive taking of property,” according to Flattery, which added on an extra year to the possible sentence. For those of you not well-versed in law enforcement lingo, “excessive taking of property” is police speak for “stealing a bunch of stuff.”
The House of Jobs was not the only Bay Area home hit by thieves. Home robberies have jumped 63 percent in Palo Alto since the beginning of the year. Police attribute this to the simple fact that residents fail to lock their doors and windows, making them particularly susceptible to break-ins. The problem is so bad that Palo Alto police launched a “Lock It or Lose It!” campaign in March in an attempt to curb the carefree approach to home protection.
The Jobs family residence is currently undergoing construction, and is surrounded by a temporary barrier that may have made it a more attractive target.
Jobs passed away in October, at age 56, due to complications with pancreatic cancer.
