Stolen iPhone 4 Prototype Suspects Plead No Contest, Get Off Light

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iphone4G_4

Well, looks like the saga of the stolen iPhone 4 prototype is finally over. The two men who sold Gizmodo the iPhone 4 prototype they ‘found’ in a German beer garden in April of 2010 have been sentenced, and as has been typical in the case so far, they got off light.

Cnet reports:

The men, who were accused of selling the device to gadget blog Gizmodo last year, were sentenced to one year of probation, 40 hours of public service, and a requirement that each pay $250 in restitution to Apple, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told CNET.

Brian Hogan, who acknowledged finding and selling the iPhone prototype

Brian Hogan, the man who allegedly found the prototype in a bar, and Sage Wallower, who allegedly helped Hogan shop the device around to technology sites, were charged with misdemeanor theft in early August. They allegedly obtained the prototype iPhone 4 after Robert Gray Powell, an Apple computer engineer who was 28 years old at the time, left it in a German beer garden in Redwood City, Calif., about half an hour’s drive from Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

“We asked for some jail time,” Wagstaffe, the district attorney, said today. “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.”

Seems about right to me. These guys were idiots, true, but I don’t think their lives should be ruined over it. There really doesn’t seem to be much harm done at the end of the day to Apple, just the people who got involved in this mess. Cut our losses and move on.

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