Lost iPhone 4G/HD Saga: Criminal Charges Are Possible

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That’s right, folks, the saga continues over the weekend and this time around we hear that the plot does indeed thicken. Just yesterday we told you that a special police task force is investigating the matter of the lost iPhone and now we hear that criminal charges might be possible.

According to the NYT, the authorities in San Mateo County in California might be filing felony charges at some point early next week. Califronia law says that if property doesn’t exceed $950, the case will be classified as a misdemeanor. But it’s common knowledge that Gizmodo paid $5,000 for the iPhone 4G/HD which apparently makes a felony charge possible.

People familiar with the investigation but who will not go on record for now, claim that charges would be filed against the person that sold the iPhone and possibly the buyer. So far we know the identity of only one of these two, the buyer.

Talking about the lost or stolen iPhone 4G prototype, Stephen Wagstaffe, San Mateo County’s chief deputy district attorney said that when dealing with missing property “we call it misappropriation of lost property; it’s a crime but it’s not theft” and added that “knowledge is a very important factor in a theft case.”

Gawker representatives said that the company hasn’t been contacted by law enforcement officials and we’ll assume its legal team is already preparing a solid defense in case Apple comes after them.

Apple has not yet commented on the matter and we’d be really interested to hear their side of the story. Too bad that won’t happen anytime soon.

As for the person that found the iPhone 4G/HD in the first place, we have no idea who he or she is and why did he or she decide to sell the device to a tech blog and cause all this commotion.

It’s simply silly to assume that a giant like Apple will not want some sort of retribution for this kind of wrong doing when considering selling such a precious object. On the other hand it was Gizmodo that published those detailed articles about the next-gen iPhone, not the person that allegedly tried to return the unit to Apple and ended up selling it to Gawker.