San Francisco Police with No Record of Lost iPhone 5 Investigation - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

San Francisco Police with No Record of Lost iPhone 5 Investigation

by

cava22 sf 0445

SFWeekly has cast some serious doubts about the lost iPhone 5 report posted by CNet yesterday. CNet had reported that an Apple employee had lost an iPhone prototype at a San Francisco restaurant and bar in July. Apple and the San Francisco Police reportedly investigated and even tracked down the location to a house which was searched.

SFWeekly called the San Francisco Police Department and discovered that they had no records of any investigation nor of any visit or search of the house claimed in the original article.

Esparza says no records of the visit to Bernal Heights by police officers -- which should be recorded in documentation per standard SFPD procedures -- exist at either Mission or Ingleside stations, at least one of which would have handled the incident. (Ingleside station covers Bernal Heights, while the phone was allegedly lost at Cava 22, a bar in the Mission.) Police dispatchers also have no records of any incident involving the address where the search for the phone supposedly took place, Esparza says.

Furthermore, the officer they spoke to said they had told CNet's reporter the same just weeks ago. Despite this, CNet reports their information came from someone 'familiar with the investigation". CNet has yet to clarify.

PCMag similarly contacted the San Francisco police who also denied any knowledge of the incident.

Update: Apple may have posed as police.

Top Rated Comments

caliguy Avatar
190 months ago
Ok, so maybe there was no prototype iPhone lost at Cava 22, but did you know they offer a lime-marinated shrimp ceviche?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bb426 Avatar
190 months ago
Reporting nowadays can be summed up in three words.

It HELLA sucks.

What's up CNet?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BC2009 Avatar
190 months ago
Maybe somebody at CNET is part owner in that bar.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrmjenkins Avatar
190 months ago
The whole thing has smelled kind of fishy. You're telling me this thing has been gone for over a month and no has paid to put it on the web?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theBB Avatar
190 months ago
As soon as the rumor came out, there were people who got suspicious as the article was so gushing about the menu options at the bar. It sounds like a publicity stunt for the bar and another low point for CNET.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rudy69 Avatar
190 months ago
CNet lying.... no way :rolleyes:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
Related Apple News: Mac | South Africa | Politics | Opinion | Sport