Kim Zetter:

Police closed in on the man who found and sold a prototype 4G iPhone after his roommate called an Apple security official and turned him in, according to a newly unsealed document in the ongoing police investigation. The tip sent police racing to the home of 21-year-old Brian Hogan, and began a strange scavenger hunt for evidence that a friend of Hogan’s had scattered around the Silicon Valley community of Redwood City. Police recovered a desktop computer stashed inside an area church, a thumb drive hidden in a bush alongside the road, and the iPhone’s serial number stickers from the parking lot of a gas station.

Good luck with the argument that they didn’t know the phone was stolen. It’s funny that his roommate knew how to contact Apple Security. Perhaps Hogan should have asked her for help with the telephone while ostensibly trying to return the phone. Like I’ve said, these guys are like characters out of a Coen brothers movie.

Asked the value of the phone, Apple told the police “it was invaluable.”

Ought to make for an interesting civil case against Gawker Media.

★ Friday, 14 May 2010