SF cops search for lost iPhone prototype

In the latest twist to the saga of a lost iPhone prototype, San Francisco police have confirmed helping Apple Inc.'s internal security search a home for the gadget. SF Weekly reported the confirmation contradicted the police's past statements that no records exist of police involvement in the search for the iPhone 5. "Apple came to us saying that they were looking for a lost item, and some plainclothes officers responded out to the house with them," SF Weekly quoted San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield as saying. He told SF Weekly "three or four" SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man's home. Dangerfield said he learned of this after conferring with Apple and the captain of the Ingleside police station. According to him, plainclothes SFPD officers went with private Apple detectives to the home of Sergio Calderón, 22, in Bernal Heights. But he said the SFPD officers "did not go inside the house," but stood outside while the Apple employees searched Calderón's home, car, and computer files. The phone was not found, and Calderón denied ever possessing it. The iPhone 5 prototype was reportedly lost in a bar last July. SF Weekly said it remains unclear whether these actions might constitute impersonation of a police officer, which in California can net a year in jail. "I don't have any indication of that. I'm not going to go there," Dangerfield said, when asked about whether the Apple detectives might have misrepresented themselves. Also, Dangerfield said he plans to contact Calderón to ask further questions about the incident. Tech site CNET also quoted a statement from San Francisco police that it assisted in the investigation. “It was discovered that Apple employees called Mission Police station directly, wanting assistance in tracking down a lost item. Apple had tracked the lost item to a house located in the 500 block of Anderson Street. Because the address was in the Ingleside Police district Apple employees were referred to Officers in the Ingleside district," it said. Also, it said four SFPD Officers accompanied Apple employees to the Anderson street home. The two Apple employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item. “The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house. The Apple employees did not want to make an official report of the lost item," CNET quoted the police as saying. Homeowner's account Calderón narrated that six badge-wearing visitors went to his home in July to inquire about the phone. He said that none of them acknowledged being employed by Apple, and one of them even offered him $300, and a promise that the owner of the phone would not press charges if he would return the device. Calderon also said the visitors allegedly threatened him and his family, asking questions about their immigration status. "One of the officers is like, 'Is everyone in this house an American citizen?' They said we were all going to get into trouble," Calderón said. One of the officers left a phone number with him, which SF Weekly traced to Anthony Colon, an investigator employed at Apple. Propriety questions SF Weekly said the incident may raise questions about the propriety of multiple SFPD officers helping private detectives conduct a search. It also noted the search was never properly recorded, per standard police operating procedure. Dangerfield said he was not aware of whether it was a San Francisco police officer or one of the Apple security officers who first knocked on Calderón's door. "Anyone has a right to keep people from their homes if they don't want them there, legally," Dangerfield said. The SF Weekly report also said it is also not clear why records of SFPD officers' involvement did not emerge until now. Earlier, SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said that "we don't have any record of such an investigation going on at this point." Only two cops entered house Calderón said only two of the six people who went to his home actually entered the house, but the two did not specifically state they were police officers. Still, he said he was under the impression that they were all police, since they were part of the group outside that identified themselves as SFPD officials. He said the two who entered the house did not disclose that they were private security officers. "When they came to my house, they said they were SFPD. I thought they were SFPD. That's why I let them in," he said. Besides, he said he would not have permitted the search if he had been aware the two people conducting it were not actually police officers. — TJD, GMA News