Homeless in Arizona

Source

Steve Jobs home burglary suspect accused of stealing wallet, driver's license, special computers with house key

By Mike Rosenberg and Jason Green

Staff writers

PALO ALTO -- Detectives say Kariem McFarlin told them he was desperate for easy cash when he saw the Palo Alto home being renovated, hopped over the fence, found a spare key and went inside. No lights, no alarm, no one home. Then he discovered what hallowed ground he was on: the home of the iconic late Apple (AAPL) CEO, Steve Jobs.

Alone and with free rein of a house belonging to one of the richest and most secretive families on the planet, McFarlin made off with some of the legendary gadgets Jobs helped create, police said in a report released Tuesday, one month after a break-in just now being publicized. He grabbed iPhones, iPads, Macs and iPods, then found Jobs' wallet -- with a single dollar inside -- and, perhaps most shockingly of all, took his driver's license.

Police said he also snatched $60,000 worth of Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Cristal Champagne, and even took a soda-maker and kitchen blender.

Ultimately, it was Jobs' company's technology that allowed Apple and a special Silicon Valley high-tech crime task force to track down the burglary suspect, a former San Jose State football player who friends described as a high school nerd and "good guy."

Police said when McFarlin, 35, used the stolen devices to connect to the Internet with his iTunes account after the July 17 heist, Apple investigators were able to identify him using an IP address. After gathering more evidence, police swarmed his Alameda apartment and said they found many of the items from the Palo Alto home. He then confessed and wrote an apology letter to Jobs' widow, police said.

"What an idiot," McFarlin's former boss Ross Rankin told this newspaper Tuesday, the morning after news broke of the burglary at one of Silicon Valley's most famous residences. "There's certain things you don't do, and burglary is one of them, but burglarizing an icon like that, that just puts yourself pretty much in the deep hole."

A 36-page police report shows in intricate detail how the Waverley Street Jobs home was burglarized between 5 p.m. July 17 and 8 a.m. the next day. McFarlin was arrested Aug. 2 and is in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

His attorney at the Public Defender's Office did not return calls requesting a comment. Police, though, said McFarlin told investigators he was down on his luck and had been sleeping in his car before breaking into a few San Francisco homes and the Jobs residence.

The report said on that July night McFarlin pulled up to the curb on Waverley Street and hopped a 6-foot fence by climbing the scaffolding around the house after construction crews renovating the home had gone home for the day. He walked into an open garage workshop, found a key and walked through the house door, the report said.

"Kariem McFarlin explained he crept around the house because he was scared someone might be home," the report said.

Eventually, he figured out he was alone. Then, investigators wrote, he saw a letter addressed to Jobs and realized whose home he was standing in.

"The best we can tell is it was totally random," prosecutor Tom Flattery said.

The home, which was unoccupied because it was under renovation, has been a mecca for tourists to Silicon Valley, especially since Jobs' death Oct. 5, after a long battle with cancer.

Laurene Powell Jobs, his widow, was staying nearby. Her spokeswoman declined to comment.

Although the burglary was discovered on the morning of July 18, it wasn't reported to police until two days later.

A manifest of items stolen at the Jobs residence gives a rare peek into the world of the notoriously reclusive entrepreneur who helped create one of the most successful and secretive companies in history.

Also listed as stolen: an iMac and a Mac Mini specially installed for Jobs by an Apple engineer; a small "demo-sized" MacBook, three iPads, three iPods, two iPhones, and an Apple TV device. McFarlin is accused of giving one of the iPads to his daughter and another to a friend.

In Jobs' swiped black leather wallet were his California driver's license, an Apple corporate American Express card, a titanium American Express Black card and a Bank of America Visa credit card. A key to a Mercedes-Benz at the home was taken, but not the car.

Also missing from the house were goods bought from the Tiffany & Co. store at the Stanford Shopping Center during the 2001 and 2002 holiday seasons: a $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.

More stolen goods: Monster Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, a Ninja Blender, a Sodastream soda-maker, a SanDisk media storage device, and Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne.

Police said McFarlin told them he used luggage found in the house to cart away the items, tossing them over a fence onto cushions he took from patio furniture.

Later, he Googled how to sell jewelry and shipped some of the stolen goods to a jeweler in Pennsylvania who has since agreed to send back the items, police said.

Virtually all of the stolen goods were recovered at McFarlin's home and an Alameda storage unit, police said, and the two gifted iPads were returned.

Palo Alto police investigated with the Santa Clara County high technology REACT task force. McFarlin was arraigned Aug. 7 and is due in court Aug. 20.

The Jobs heist was part of a 63 percent rise in burglaries in Palo Alto this year, as Bay Area cities from San Jose to Oakland to Daly City see double-digit increases in home burglaries. Authorities have tied the trend to budget cuts that left police forces withered and rumors in criminal circles of unlocked doors.

McFarlin was a defensive back for the San Jose State football team in 1998 and earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology in 2004, the university said.

Lifelong friend Joe Tenorio said McFarlin grew up in the projects -- records show his birth certificate was issued in New York -- but was helped by a loving mother and stepfather.

"I'd call him a nerd in high school," Tenorio said. "He didn't hang out with the cliques that were robbing people."

Rankin, president of Santa Ynez-based medical supply firm Representatives, said McFarlin was with the company for only a few months more than a year ago.

"It did not work out well at all," Rankin said. "It just wasn't a positive relationship. He was not particularly motivated."

Rankin said he gives iPhones to all his sales representatives, but after leaving the company McFarlin had to give his back.

Staff writers Robert Salonga, Malaika Fraley and Erin Ivie contributed to this report. Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705 or mrosenberg@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/rosenberg17.