iPhone 4 Prototype Thieves Let Off Lightly

According to CNET, the two men caught for stealing and selling an iPhone 4 prototype will now be sentenced to a year of probation, a $500 fine, and 40 hours of community service. It took a year, but the lost prototype case has finally been settled.

Last year, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower came across an iPhone 4 prototype at a bar and proceeded to sell it online to tech blog Gizmodo for $5,000. Gizmodo bought it for $4,750 but would later find out that phone belonged to an Apple employee who lost it at that Redwood City bar. They also realized that it was the next generation iPhone.

After Apple's legal representatives demanded its return, Gizmodo handed the prototype back to the company. Soon after, Gizmodo blog editor Jason Chen's home was searched by the police. They confiscated any hard drives, laptops, phones, and any sort of electronics as part of the investigation. After searching for traces of Apple's information, Gizmodo and its editors were off the hook. The two that initially sold the phone to them, however, were less fortunate.

Hogan and Wallower were then charged with misdemeanor theft. Hogan was a student at San Jose State and Wallower served in the armed forces, and, luckily for them, the judge took that into consideration and spared them of jail time.