VIDEO: Initially suspect Kariem McFarlin did not know he was burglarizing the family home of Steve Jobs.
The home of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died October 5, 2011, was burglarized from July 17, 2012 at 5:00 until July 18, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. on Waverley Street in Palo Alto, California. The suspect has been identified as Kariem McFarlin, 35, who was a defensive back for the San Jose State football team in 1998 and earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 2004. McFarlin was arrested on August 2, 2012 at his Alameda home after the crime was investigated by the Apple personnel investigating IP addresses, Palo Alto police, and the Santa Clara County high technology REACT task force.
The REACT (Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team) task force is a partnership of 17 local, state, and federal agencies, with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office designated as the lead agency. REACT was established in 1997 by the California State Department of Justice to respond to new types of crime, such as identity theft, made possible by a computer- and Internet-related economy.
In the police report, the following items were reported stolen:
Steve Jobs’ wallet with a single dollar inside
Steve Jobs’ California driver’s license
Apple corporate American Express Card
A titanium American Express Black Card
Bank of America Visa credit card
A key to a Mercedes-Benz
Tiffany & Co. merchandise
($33,000 platinum and aquamarine-bead necklace; a platinum necklace with 247 round brilliant diamonds weighing 5 carats, with nine carved aquamarine drops valued at $28,500; and a $2,950 pair of earrings)
Monster Beats by Dr. Dre headphones
Ninja Blender
Sodastream soda-maker
SanDisk media storage device
Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne
Apple iPhones (2)
Apple iPads (3)
Apple iPods (3)
Alpple TV device
Apple Mac computers (Apple iMac, Mac mini, a small MacBook)
McFarlin told police investigators he parked at the curb, hopped a six-foot fence, entered an open garage workshop, found a house key, and entered the home. McFarlin said that he found a letter addressed to Steve Jobs, and realized he was in the home of Steve Jobs’ family. The home was undergoing renovation, and nobody was home at the time of the crime. McFarlin used family luggage to transport burglary proceeds off of the property.
Almost all of the stolen goods were recovered at McFarlin’s home and at an Alameda, California storage unit. Two Apple iPads that McFarlin gave away as gifts, to his daughter and a friend, were returned. McFarlin shipped some of the burglary proceeds to a jeweler in Pennsylvania after using Google to learn how to sell jewelry. The jeweler has agreed to send back the items, and police were working to recover the items.
After a drop in April 2012, Palo Alto has experienced a 63 percent rise in burglaries in 2012 — connected by authorities to budget cuts and diminished police resources. Criminal subjects are also known to share neighborhood intelligence, such as wear the unlocked doors are located.
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