Steve Jobs’ House Burglar Caught When he Used One of His iPads

[Maura]

AppleInsider has further information today about the man arrested for stealing items from Steve Jobs’ California home, Kariem McFarlin, and how he was caught because he used one of the iPads that he had stolen. According to AppleInsider, McFarlin told police that he had been living out of his car, and was desperate, so when he saw that the house in Palo Alto, California, was having building work done on it, he took the opportunity to break in, and came away with two iMacs, three iPads, three iPods, an Apple TV and more than $60,000 worth of jewellery. Although McFarlin initially made his escape from the property undetected, he was eventually found by police when he started using one of the stolen iPads, which connected automatically to Apple’s servers to update itself, when it was immediately red-flagged at Apple as belonging either to the late Apple co-founder or one of his family. The IP, and McFarlin’s location, was then easily traceable, leading to his arrest.

Source: Burglar who swiped Steve Jobs' wallet, computers quickly traced after powering them on

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“Former San Jose State University football player Kariem McFarlin was sentenced this week to seven years in state prison for burglarizing several Bay Area homes, including one that belonged to the late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs,” Jason Green reports for The Oakland Tribune.

“McFarlin, 35, pleaded no contest Nov. 21 to eight felony counts of residential burglary and one felony count of selling stolen property. The Alameda resident could have faced up to 16 years and four months, but Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett agreed to cap his maximum sentence at seven years and eight months in exchange for the plea,” Green reports. “McFarlin could end up serving just half of his seven-year sentence, said Deputy District Attorney Thomas Flattery. Every day he serves will count as two as long as his behavior is good.”

“McFarlin’s burglary spree kicked off March 4, 2011, in Alameda and eventually spanned four Bay Area counties, according to prosecutors. He targeted residences in affluent neighborhoods that were undergoing construction or remodeling and appeared to be vacant,” Green reports. “Jobs’ home on the 2100 block of Waverley Street in Palo Alto was one such home. On the night of July 17, 2012, McFarlin crept into a garage, found a set of keys and looted the residence. Among the items he took were $60,000 worth of Tiffany & Co. jewelry, several Apple gadgets and the driver’s license of the CEO, who had died of cancer nine months earlier.”

Green reports, “Technology that Jobs helped create led to McFarlin’s capture. When he connected the stolen devices to the Internet with his iTunes account, Apple investigators were able to identify him using an IP address. Police collected additional evidence and arrested him at his Alameda apartment on Aug. 2.”

1-19-13

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