I guess it is fitting that at long last, we have closure of the lost iPhone 4 saga from more than a year ago. Jason Chen, editor at Gizmodo when everything happened, is said to be immune from prosecution thanks to journalism protection laws. As for the two people who sold the phone to Gizmodo’s staff, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower, well their lucky stars failed to shine. Or perhaps they should have gone to journalism school. Regardless, they were slapped with misappropriation of lost property and possession of stolen property charges, after entering a no contest plea in court.
According to San Mateo county DA Richard Wagstaffe, “We asked for some jail time. The judge considered that Wallower had served in the armed forces and Hogan was enrolled in San Jose State, and neither had any criminal record, and decided that jail time wasn’t required. Someone from my office called Apple’s general counsel. This is a fairly routine theft case. This was a couple of youthful people who should have known better.”
Apple will receive $250 each in restitution from Hogan and Wallower, and they will have to perform 40 hours of community service, and undergo a year of probation. Guess all’s well that ends well, no? That $250 could have gone to pick up a $199 iPhone 4S with some chump change left over though – food for thought.