Two people charged with sale of iPhone 4 prototype

Two people were charged by a California county district attorney's office for the sale of an iPhone 4 prototype in 2010.

Brian Hogan, 22 and Safe Wallower, 28 have been accused of misappropriation of lost property and Wallower has also been charged with possession of stolen property.

Many will remember the fiasco last year revolving around an early version of the iPhone 4 which was accidentally left at a Redwood City Bar by an Apple engineer. Hogan was identified as the person who sold the iPhone to Gizmodo, who published pictures and an analysis of the device months before Apple officially released it into the public domain.

Gizmodo admitted paying $5,000 to Hogan for the iPhone 4 prototype however they did return the phone to Apple after lawyers got involved.

No charges have been issued against Gizmodo or their former editor Jason Chen for publishing the images, or buying the phone from Hogan.

Gawker Media, who own Gizmodo issued a statement “We are pleased that the District Attorney of San Mateo County, Steven Wagstaffe, has decided, upon review of all of the evidence, that no crime was committed by the Gizmodo team in relation to its reporting on the iPhone 4 prototype last year.”

Kitguru says: No details yet on the penalties for Hogan or Wallower.

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