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San Francisco Police Department now admits it 'assisted' Apple investigators

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Sep 3rd 2011 at 4:45PM

We were skeptical at first, as this sounded too weird to be true, but it seems "three or four" plainclothes SFPD officers did, in fact, accompany private Apple detectives to the home of Sergio Calderón, a 22-year-old resident of Bernal Heights on the hunt for a missing iPhone 5. Shortly after the initial story broke, the San Francisco Police Department said it didn't know of the incident or lost phone, but after speaking to Apple and the captain of the Ingleside police station, spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield confirmed to SF Weekly that some officers did assist Apple to the address in July.

Calderón told SF Weekly that in July six people wearing badges came to his house looking for a lost phone that had been traced to him via the phone's onboard GPS. According to SF Weekly, "Calderón said none of them acknowledged being employed by Apple, and one of them offered him $300, and a promise that the owner of the phone would not press charges, if he would return the device." Apparently the SFPD officers didn't enter his home, but the Apple detectives did, searching his car, house and computer but never mentioning an iPhone 5 prototype specifically.

Dangerfield indicated he would follow up with Calderón to learn more. As for Calderón's recollection of the events, he says the visitors indicated they were SFPD, which is why he let them in. Further, he claims family members were threatened about their immigration status.

When CNET originally reported the story, they said: "The man gave police permission to search the house, and they found nothing, the source said." Then the SFPD said they found no records of an investigation. The man whose name and number were given to Calderón was traced to a LinkedIn profile of someone who appears to work at Apple. So the latest wrinkle is that the SFPD now confirms that officers did accompany Apple detectives to Mr. Calderón's dwelling, where detectives (not SFPD) went through his stuff looking for a "lost phone." We're hoping Apple is able to confirm or deny that their detectives did search Mr. Calderón's property.

AllThingsD has a succinct description of what happened here.



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We were skeptical at first, as this sounded too weird to be true, but it seems "three or four" plainclothes SFPD officers did, in...
 

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19 Comments

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Gjfgj

http://itshrunk.com/c937bf

September 05 2011 at 8:48 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Gjfgj

i love this game,i hope we can supply for our
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September 05 2011 at 8:48 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Melanie Fuentes

I just got a $829.99 iPad2 for only $103.37 and my mom got a $1499.99 HDTV for only $251.92, they are both coming with USPS tomorrow. I would be an idiot to ever pay full retail prices at places like Walmart or Bestbuy. I sold a 37" HDTV to my boss for $600 that I only paid $78.24 for. I use GetCent.com

September 04 2011 at 10:28 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
Winski

So Calderon let the police come to his house to search for "something". Did he not know what they were looking for? If the police came to my house to search for something, you can bet I'd ask them what they are searching for. I don't see this as a problem. Apple could very well have notified the police that they indeed knew where the missing iPhone was, and the police could then obtain a search warrant and Calderon could have been arrested. Instead, they went the route of "you give it back and we won't press charges, which may in fact be a much better deal for Calderon.

As for the accusation that they threatened his family with immigration status claims, I think that's a load of BS. Do you think the police had any clue as to whether Calderon or anyone in his family was illegal? if they did not, they would not waste their time with such threats.

A lot of things need to be clarified before we know the whole story here, but I don't think Caldron is on the up and up.

September 03 2011 at 6:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Winski's comment
Victor Agreda Jr

The police hung out outside.

September 03 2011 at 7:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Victor Agreda Jr's comment
Winski

So I still stand by my thoughts. The police came along because a crime was committed. Apple said they would not press charges if he'd just hand it over. If Apple employees showed up at his door without the cops, then Calderon would have told them to f-off.

What was the right thing to do Victor?

September 03 2011 at 10:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
Creektalker

The right thing to do would be for either: a) the police to ask to search the home or get a warrant, or b) the Apple employees to request same from police, go alone as private citizens and ask nicely.

The wrong thing to do is for Apple to obfuscate the encounter by pretending to be part of the police force to obtain entry.

If we have the facts straight, it may be that the SFPD could have a lawsuit on their hands.

September 03 2011 at 11:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
Creektalker

The real question seems to be who identified themselves as officers.
"he says the visitors indicated they were SFPD, which is why he let them in"

If they all identified as SFPD, then the Apple employees entered for a search without(even with?) the officials, then that would seem to be a clear violation. More information needed, but I would doubt even with clear evidence anybody would be prosecuted, except, of course, Calderón.

September 03 2011 at 5:34 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
H

There's something fishy about this whole thing.

September 03 2011 at 5:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Howie Isaacks

Big deal! Why is this such a hot story? So Apple allegedly lost another phone. Nothing to see here.

September 03 2011 at 5:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Howie Isaacks's comment
Victor Agreda Jr

Then took the extra step to allow SFPD to identify themselves, causing a citizen to allow entry to his home and be searched.

September 03 2011 at 5:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vera Comment

lost phone, not such a big deal. NON Law Enforcement personnel entering a private residence is. Permission or not, Apple essentially "tricked" him into letting them enter his house by using SFPD presence...

Would you feel compelled to let me into your house because I brought the cops with me?

September 03 2011 at 7:16 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
Brian Eric Ford

>>We're hoping Apple is able to confirm or deny that their detectives did search Mr. Calderón's property without a warrant.

Seems like an uninteresting, or unnecessary confirmation to seek out. You get a warrant when you're not given explicit permission to do a search. That's not an issue, here, as the person who lived at the house did, in fact, give permission. A warrant isn't necessary. If someone tells me I can search their house, they can't later cry foul that I didn't have a warrant.

That's not to say that there aren't questions that still need to be answered:

What exactly went missing? Where is it now? What’s the deal with the “may have been sold on Craig’s List for $200” CNET scoop?

Why isn’t anyone investigating the fact that it was tracked to the residence of a man who freely admits he was in the bar the night the device went missing?

What’s the deal with the SFPD’s changing story and did anyone actually make threats of deportation?

One of the Apple employees was a private investigator. Who was the second Apple employee?

September 03 2011 at 4:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Brian Eric Ford's comment
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