Two suspects plead not guilty in lost prototype iPhone 4 case

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
The two suspects charged in the 2010 incident where prototype iPhone 4 was lost in a bar have pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor theft.



Brian Hogan, the man who allegedly found the prototype in a California bar, and Robert Sage Wallower both pleaded not guilty before Superior Court Judge Jonathan Karesh in Redwood City on Thursday, according to CNet. Wallower was also charged with possessing stolen property, to which he also pleaded not guilty.



A pretrial conference for both men has been scheduled for October 11, while a trial date has been set for November 28. Both men were released on their own recognizance without bail.



Police allegedly found the prototype iPhone 4 in Hogan's possession after his roommate called Apple Security out of fear she might be considered an accomplice in the incident. That tip resulted in police preparing a search warrant for Hogan's apartment.



Though Hogan and Wallower will stand trial, the website that ultimately bought the prototype iPhone 4, Gizmodo, does not face charges. The San Mateo County district attorney's office decided last month not to bring charges against any emplyees of the website or its parent company, Gawker Media.



Gawker allegedly paid $5,000 to obtain the device for an exclusive story run by Gizmodo. The website revealed the design of the non-functional hardware, and even disassembled it to confirm the components were Apple's, prior to the official unveiling of the device.



Brian Hogan has been charged with selling a prototype iPhone 4 to Gizmodo in 2010. Photo via Facebook.



A similar incident occurred again this year, when a new iPhone prototype allegedly went missing at the end of July in San Francisco, Calif. Apple apparently tracked the missing prototype to a bar, but have not been able to locate the hardware.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The two suspects charged in the 2010 incident where prototype iPhone 4 was lost in a bar have pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor theft....



    No one ever pleads guilty anymore. A sure sign of a broken legal system when there is no advantage in being honest anymore.
  • Reply 2 of 26
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    No one ever pleads guilty anymore. A sure sign of a broken legal system when there is no advantage in being honest anymore.



    Even if proved guilty they will appeal and then plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
  • Reply 3 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    No one ever pleads guilty anymore. A sure sign of a broken legal system when there is no advantage in being honest anymore.



    You have to plead not guilty or no contest to have a trial. The court doesn't have to offer leeway if you're honest. A crime has the same punishments if you admit to it or if you're found guilty of it. There is nothing broken about this.
  • Reply 4 of 26
    diddydiddy Posts: 282member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Even if proved guilty they will appeal and then plead not guilty by reason of insanity.



    A folly deference - please of mental disease or defect rarely succeeds.
  • Reply 5 of 26
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    "Excuse me your honor, was that iPhone four or five you were asking about?"
  • Reply 6 of 26
    The crime is that the traffickers of stolen property at Gizmodo, got off. Their site is mostly an aggregator of other sites' work and what little they do produce seems to be aimed at 12 year olds. But I digress...
  • Reply 7 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by astrubhar View Post


    You have to plead not guilty or no contest to have a trial. The court doesn't have to offer leeway if you're honest. A crime has the same punishments if you admit to it or if you're found guilty of it. There is nothing broken about this.



    Seems broken to me when obviously guilty people who already admitted to their crimes are wasting everyone's time with a trial. There doesn't *need* to be a trial for every crime, and there never used to be.



    These guys are already on the record with public statements that are enough to prove that they did the things they are accused of doing. Right out of their own mouths. If ever there was a situation where them just saying "yeah we did it" and thereby getting some kind of slap on the wrist and saving everyone the bother, this is it. Yet instead they have some high priced lawyer who is going to argue every little crappy detail in the world to try to get them off. They probably will in fact get off.



    It just seems to me that there is no incentive in pleading guilty anymore at all and that no one has the honour to do so either. My opinion of course.
  • Reply 8 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The two suspects charged in the 2010 incident where prototype iPhone 4 was lost in a bar have pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor theft.



    Simply a vulgar display of spectacle and greed by these upstart gentlemen. Unfortunately, however they're judged in public, here in the Mac community, they will be remembered for what they didn't do - to just simply give the phone back to Apple.
  • Reply 9 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleZilla

    The crime is that the traffickers of stolen property at Gizmodo, got off.



    I agree.
  • Reply 10 of 26
    Hutton should get extra time in jail for that pubey look in the photo. Otherwise his 15 minutes of fame is about over.



    And Apple should be firing someone for losing these iPhones.



    What kind of idiot leaves a cell phone anywhere? Drunks? And then wouldn't anyone who was given a new prototype to test be extra careful after the past incident with the iPhone4 prototype and Jizzmado?



    Steve needs to start chaining these prototypes to the testers wrists. And if they still lose them, the should be tortured in the giant dungeon Steve is building under the new UFO building.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleZilla View Post


    The crime is that the traffickers of stolen property at Gizmodo, got off. Their site is mostly an aggregator of other sites' work and what little they do produce seems to be aimed at 12 year olds. But I digress...



    I also don't get how they weren't charged. How hard could it be to prove they knowingly purchased stolen property? They didn't seem in too much of a hurry to return it and they certainly made a bigger name for themselves in the process. How is giving money for stolen property lesser than taking money for stolen property. Equally culpable IMO.



    All that said, Apple employees need to stop losing priceless equipment.
  • Reply 12 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by msimpson View Post




    What kind of idiot leaves a cell phone anywhere? Drunks?



    Have a friend that's quite careless (I mean he drops iPhones too!!!!) walk off and leave his phone in an airport bathroom. Oddly, the DFW Airport police didn't begin a nationwide phone-hunt - perhaps it's a Texas thing. Reckon if they caught the guy he'da gotten the needle.



    Edit - Reminded of a Big Lebowski scene...



    Auto Circus Cop: [the Dude asks the Auto Circus Cop if there are any leads on who stole his beater car] Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts!

    [laughs]

    Auto Circus Cop: Leads!

    [laughs as he walks away]

    Auto Circus Cop: Leads...



    -credit imdb.com
  • Reply 13 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    No one ever pleads guilty anymore. A sure sign of a broken legal system when there is no advantage in being honest anymore.



    The guilty weren't honest to begin with. The innocent may be. So they should reform the justice system by taking "guilty" off the list of possible pleas. Not-guilty or Not-guilty by reason of insanity. Perhaps they could save 1 day of court per trial. Imagine those savings.
  • Reply 14 of 26
    mennomenno Posts: 854member
    Didn't the guy who apparently found it (assuming this is the same guy) say he called his local apple store about the product, but no one believed him?



    Hopefully Apple keeps recordings of calls in and they can find it.



    Not justifying selling it to Gizmodo, but it would show that he did try and return it.
  • Reply 15 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    These guys are already on the record with public statements that are enough to prove that they did the things they are accused of doing.



    That will have to be proven in a trial before it's incriminating.
  • Reply 16 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Menno View Post


    Didn't the guy who apparently found it (assuming this is the same guy) say he called his local apple store about the product, but no one believed him?



    Hopefully Apple keeps recordings of calls in and they can find it.



    Not justifying selling it to Gizmodo, but it would show that he did try and return it.



    Yes, he did contact Apple, but they said they had no knowledge of it. This is when he decided to contact Gizmodo.



    What I don't understand is the part where it says the cops found the phone after searching his apartment. That's not how things went down. When Apple learned Gizmodo had the device, they sent their lawyers after the site, demanding it's return, which is what eventually happened. The only thing the cops did was an improper search of a Gizmodo editor's home (improper because of the way it was handled, which likely lead to the dismissal of any evidence found. Sloppy work on the part of the cops)



    Perhaps its because I'm not a fanboy, but I really didn't care one way or another about this incident. Or at least, I didn't take it as a personal attack the way some of you seem to. Considering the horrible crimes that are perpetrated on a daily basis yet go unpublicized, this whole incident is pretty small potatoes.
  • Reply 17 of 26
    I know that it's important to many of us Apple-lovers, but in the relative scheme of things, this is such a waste of the public's money.



    As though our law-enforcement, court, and penal systems are not understaffed, overburdened, and overworked already and have no more important crimes to pursue.
  • Reply 18 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleZilla View Post


    The crime is that the traffickers of stolen property at Gizmodo, got off. Their site is mostly an aggregator of other sites' work and what little they do produce seems to be aimed at 12 year olds. But I digress...



    Gizmodo was worst. They PAID for KNOWN stolen Apple product. They got off because the DA didn't want to spend the time and $$$ to go to court against their lawyers & their appeals !!! The two guys probable have "public defenders" or the like.
  • Reply 19 of 26
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    There doesn't *need* to be a trial for every crime, and there never used to be.




    In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.



    We gotta get rid of this inconvenience ASAP
  • Reply 20 of 26
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cash907 View Post


    Yes, he did contact Apple, but they said they had no knowledge of it. This is when he decided to contact Gizmodo...



    No he didn't. This is common misconception, mainly due to gizmondo "reporting" that he did (probably helped cook up the lie with the seller), which other outlets repeated. When the actual facts came to light, it was revealed that they never contacted Apple at all. Once he realized it was a prototype, he got a buddy to help try and sell it to several news site. A girl friend reported on them to Apple/Police because they used her computer and she was afraid it would trace back to her.
Sign In or Register to comment.