Suspects Linked to Missing iPhone 4 Prototype Plead Not Guilty

[Michael Essany]

Is it me, or do the headlines start to get a little kooky right around the time of a new Apple product release? If so, the iPhone 5 must be coming any day now, because strange, deja vu-style events continue to find their way into mainstream media reports this week.

Following yesterday's revelation that a prototype of the iPhone 5 was allegedly lost in a San Francisco bar (yes, by another Apple employee) only to be recovered and then sold on Craigslist for $200, the headlines today are revisiting a major - and eerily similar - story from last year, when a prototype of the iPhone 4 also turned up missing at a bar on the west coast.

Two suspects (Brian Hogan and Robert Sage Wallower) linked to the 2010 lost iPhone 4 debacle have pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor theft. Hogan and Wallower professed their innocence today to Superior Court Judge Jonathan Karesh in Redwood City, California. The judge scheduled a pretrial conference for October 11th and an actual trial date for November 28th of this year.

In early August, San Mateo County prosecutors filed misdemeanor criminal charges against the two men. They allegedly obtained the prototype iPhone 4 after Robert Gray Powell, an Apple computer engineer who was 28 years old at the time, left it in a German beer garden in Redwood City, California.

While it remains to be seen what will ultimately happen to the two young men linked to last year's iPhone 4 incident, under a California law, "any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be--but 'appropriates such property to his own use'--is guilty of theft."

Source: CNET

[Cokeman]

I think Apple employees need to stay out of the bars.

[Wolftamer]

umm, their guilt is pretty well documented, lol. They should have just taken a plea, slap on the wrist, and get it over with.

[Heathen711]

umm, their guilt is pretty well documented, lol. They should have just taken a plea, slap on the wrist, and get it over with.

If they were stupid enough to not get away with it, what makes you think they're any smarter now?

[hitman10]

^^ i agree

[RICO_]

I think Apple employees need to stay out of the bars.

Or maybe they just need to stop bringing a prototype phone with them.

[sziklassy]

So is there legitimate reason to believe that it was these same guys that caused this latest leak?

[iliveudie]

Why would you plead not guilty on this!? You have to be a complete moron to try that one...

[g12007]

if its "lost" how did they steal it ?

if he left or forgot something how is it there fault or how do the know WHO it belongs to ?

it dont add up how they are tellling it

[BenderRodriguez]

Thats hilarious it only went for $200 lol what an idiot seller

[Kendall213]

if its "lost" how did they steal it ?

if he left or forgot something how is it there fault or how do the know WHO it belongs to ?

it dont add up how they are tellling it

it clearly belonged to Apple. it was marked as a prototype. And I'm sure there was some sort of warning on the device stating that it was property of Apple.

[Wolftamer]

if its "lost" how did they steal it ?

if he left or forgot something how is it there fault or how do the know WHO it belongs to ?

it dont add up how they are tellling it

They knew they were taking something that doesn't belong to them with the intent of keeping it. that's how it is stealing. Had they turned it into the cops, not stealing. Sell it to the highest bidder, in a world of s#%t.

[DannyAnderson1]

Apple lost it, someone found it, yeah I don't think they shouldn't have picked it up. Apple should just be happy for getting it back though. I think pleading not guilty is pretty much instinct though. I'm not sure how this one will turn out. It could go either way.

[Stray]

Thats hilarious it only went for $200 lol what an idiot seller

That was the iphone 5

[lighter]

I think it's the right plea. If I remember correctly they did make an attempt to return it to apple and ignored it or didnt believe them because they most likely didn't want acknowledge at that time that there was an "iPhone 4" that gone missing. So screw apple and I hope judge tosses this out. And screw old California law from 18xx something.

it clearly belonged to Apple. it was marked as a prototype. And I'm sure there was some sort of warning on the device stating that it was property of Apple.

[Carvensno]

Guess they were stupid enough?? Didnt even take photo's of the phone? WTH Not to brite!!!

[BenderRodriguez]

Thats hilarious it only went for $200 lol what an idiot seller

That was the iphone 5

Duh, but I bought my iPhone 4 for $400 the iPhone 5 prot should had gone for more like $900 to $1500 if he sold it right

[delusion950]

i do too

[hapishyguy]

tactics to create a hype! Promotional ideas I would say.

[<(O)> Device]

I think Apple employees need to stay out of the bars.

I agree send them to strip clubs instead lol