Apple Impersonated Police Officers to Search Home for Lost iPhone Prototype?

Apple investigators may have impersonated police officers in order to search the home of a man suspected of taking an iPhone prototype, according to SF Weekly.

Earlier this week CNET reported that a prototype phone was lost at San Francisco's Cava 22 "tequila lounge" in late July and possibly sold on Craiglist for $200. Apple traced the device via GPS to a man's home in Bernal Heights but he denies any knowledge of the device, despite admitting he was at the club that night.

SF Weekly has spoken with Sergio Calderón, 22, who believes his was the home referred to in the CNET article.


Calderón said that at about 6 p.m. six people -- four men and two women -- wearing badges of some kind showed up at his door. "They said, 'Hey, Sergio, we're from the San Francisco Police Department.'" He said they asked him whether he had been at Cava 22 over the weekend (he had) and told him that they had traced a lost iPhone to his home using GPS. At no point, he said, did any of the visitors say they were working on behalf of Apple or say they were looking for an iPhone 5 prototype.

Calderón, says they threatened his relatives 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.'"

He let them search his car, house, and computer. Unable to find anything they offered him $300 for the device. "They made it seem like they were on the phone with the owner of the phone, and they said, 'The person's not pressing charges, they just want it back, and they'll give you $300,'" he recalled.

A man named "Tony" left his number for Calderon to call should he have any further information to share. The number belongs to Anthony Colon who is employed as a "senior investigator" at Apple.


When informed of Calderón's statement SFPD spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield said, "This is something that's going to need to be investigated now."

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