Police have arrested a 35-year-old Alemeda, CA man in the burglary of Apple co-founder Steve Job’s home in Palo Alto, CA. Police were able to detect the suspect’s location by his IP address once he powered on one of the iPads stolen from Jobs’ home.
Kariem McFarlin, a 35-year-old Alemeda, Calif., confessed that his crime was one of desperation, explaining that he’d been living out of his car. He told police that when he saw Jobs’ home at 2101 Waverly Street in Palo Alto, Calif. was under construction, he immediately seized the opportunity.
Parking his car on a side street, McFarlin proceeded to scale scaffolding to get over the property’s cyclone fencing. He failed to find an open door to the porperty, but then lucked upon a key in an unsecured storage area that opened the main door of the residence.
McFarlin then proceeded to loot the home under cover of darkness, stealing two iMacs, three iPads, three iPods, an Apple TV, and over $60,000 in fine jewelry. No alarm was sounded during the robbery.
McFarlin later shipped the jewelry to an out-of-state dealer. The jewels included a $30,000 Tiffany & Co. platinum and aquamarine necklace, a $2,8950 pair of Tiffany platinum, diamond and aquamarine lace-drop earrings, and a $28,5000 Tiffany platinum, diamond and aquamarine crochet necklace bezel set.
McFarlin also snagged a key to a Mercedes, and then tossed his ill gotten gains over the cyclone fence onto an arrangement of lawn furniture cushions he placed there to cushion the fall of the stolen items. He then loaded the merchandise into his car and made his getaway.
The following day, the house manager notice that the spare key was missing and that the house was ransacked. He then advised police of the break-in.
Police were quickly able to trace McFarlin’s location by his IP address once he powered on one of the stolen iPads. The device had immediately connected to Apple’s servers and was identified as a device owned by Jobs or one of his family members. (No word from police if “Find my iPhone” was installed on the iPad in question.)
Jobs’ widow Laureen Powell was not living at the home while it was under construction, but was staying nearby.
McFarlin maintains he did not know who the owner of the house was until he discovered Jobs’ wallet amongst his haul. He has reportedly asked to write a letter of apology, presumably to the family, explaining that his motives were driven by desperation.
McFarlin remains in the county jail awaiting his next court date for failing to post his bail of $500,000. He faces a maximum prison sentence of seven years and eight months. The sentence would include a one-year enhancement for “excessive taking of property.”
A complete copy of the 32-page police report is available, courtesy of The Daily.
