SFPD Investigates Apple’s & SFPD’s Lost iPhone 5 Investigation, Popcorn Not Included

Tweet

Remember that second lost iPhone, presumably a priceless iPhone 5 prototype lost in a San Francisco-based, tequila-friendly establishment? The one that Apple never reported to police of having lost, until it did? The one whose disappearance was initially investigated by Apple employees posing as the arm of the law, without actual police being present, until they were?

Well the story isn’t really clear and it isn’t over yet either. While last year’s lost iPhone 4 case may not be as interesting a movie as Steve Jobs believed it to be, this one is, so grab the popcorn.

It turns out that the SFPD, after days and days of wondering what has happened with this unreleased device that disappeared into thin air, it realized it simply has to take the initiative and investigate the whole investigation.

What kind of iPhone did Apple lose? Why wasn’t any record of the police raid available? Why were Apple employees allowed to search a man’s home without a warrant? Why have they (allegedly) offered cash for the safe return of the device and why did they (allegedly) threaten the man’s family? These are valid questions and the SFPD may soon be able to answer to some of them.

Reporting on the story CNET mentions a few interesting facts about Apple’s investigation. It would appear that it’s common for SFPD to assist private investigators, and that they did indeed join Apple’s taskforce looking into the iPhone 5 matter but never entered Jose Calderon’s residence where the lost iPhone was believed to be.

The police did ask for Calderon’s permission for Apple personnel to search the house and apparently told him that in case he refused they’d be back with a search warrant. While Calderon agreed to let the unknown persons search his home, car and computer, he was never told, apparently, it wasn’t police personnel actually performing the search.

He is currently seeking legal counsel and he wasn’t willing to talk to CNET about the iPhone incident. According to his previous statements he was indeed at Cava 22, the bar where the iPhone was lost, but he denied knowing anything about the device. He also stated for SF Weekly that the police, who questioned their status as citizens of the United States, intimidated him and his family.

The internal SFPD investigation will probably offer more details about the role of police in Apple’s investigation, but it may never answer one important question, what really happened to the iPhone 5. As for Calderon and his family, lawyers believe that may only file a complaint with the police for the time being, for the way they have been allegedly forced to comply with the search and for the actual search that wasn’t performed by police personnel. But they may not have a civil case against the police following this iPhone investigation.

Apple is not commenting on the matter, and we may never hear their side of the story, especially if that lost iPhone 5 has found its way back to the company.

The strangest thing for me though is the fact that Apple traced the iPhone to that specific house, but wasn’t able to find it. Since it’s not like someone removed that GPS chip from the iPhone and glued it to the house like in a bad movie, not that something like that would ever work (we know that), does this mean that Apple’s software is hitting and missing when it comes to finding lost iOS devices? Has Calderon lied about the iPhone? Or maybe, just maybe, someone parked a car in which the iPhone was found right near that house. It is possible right? But then wouldn’t Apple have had a team monitoring all movements of the device?