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Uploaded: Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 1:02 PM
Tiffany necklace, iPads reported stolen from Steve Jobs' home
Police arrest Kariem McFarlin for burglary of the late Apple co-founder's house
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by Gennady Sheyner
Palo Alto Weekly Staff
Photo
 | The home of the late Steve Jobs, Apple's iconic co-founder, became one of Palo Alto's latest burglary targets last month when a man allegedly made off with at least two Apple computers, an iPad, a host of other electronic equipment, jewelry and other personal items from the Waverley Street residence, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.
Police believe the burglary occurred between the evening of July 17 and the morning of July 18 at Jobs' home in Old Palo Alto. The home is currently undergoing renovation, including roof work, and authorities believe no one was home at the time of the incident. The incident was reported on July 20, according to the Palo Alto Police Department report log.
Santa Clara County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Scott Tsui said the suspect is Kariem McFarlin, 35, of Alameda. McFarlin was arrested after Palo Alto officers and investigators from the regional Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) Task Force used data obtained from Apple and AT&T to track the stolen computers, which were connecting to the Internet and Apple servers from McFarlin's home in Alameda, according to a report from REACT Agent Marshall Norton.
According to the report, McFarlin -- a former San Jose State University cornerback -- had admitted to burglarizing the Jobs residence and to being involved in several other burglaries of private residences in San Francisco.
Jobs' two-story home was undergoing construction and was unoccupied at the time of the burglary, according to the police. Jobs' widow, Laureen Powell Jobs, had told the police that the home has been uninhabitable because of major renovations since mid-June. The general contractor for the renovation discovered the burglary on the morning of July 18.
While police had confirmed that two Apple computers and an iPad tablet were among the items stolen, they are still working to ascertain what other Apple products were taken during the burglary. Other items that were reported stolen included a wallet with credit cards, three iPods, a Ninja Blender, a Sodastream Soda Maker and "Monster Beats by Dr. Dre" headphones, a Tiffany platinum and aquamarine necklace valued at $33,000, another Tiffany necklace with diamonds valued at $28,500, a pair of earrings valued at about $3,000, and a bottle of Cristal Champagne.
Investigators relied on search records, serial numbers, IP addresses and social-media sites to track down the suspect. They learned after contacting Apple that the operator of the iPad in question was trying to re-install the operating system the morning after the burglary and was connecting to Apple servers through a wireless AT&T connection. They then used the IP address in this connection to link the equipment to two Apple iTunes accounts, one of which belonged to McFarlin.
Between July 24 and 26, investigators tracked down more evidence linking the stolen computers to other IP addresses associated with McFarlin's iTunes accounts. They received search warrants related to his customer accounts and learned from Apple's investigators that McFarlin used the iPad to log on to his iTunes account, according to Norton's report.
Investigators made further headway on July 29, when they tracked the same iPad to a Comcast IP address associated with a woman living in Alameda County. They then learned that the woman, Jacqueline Richard, was one of McFarlin's "friends" on Facebook. Officers and REACT investigators used this evidence to get a search warrant for McFarlin's Alameda home. They raided the house on Aug. 2 and arrested McFarlin without incident. Norton wrote in the report that while at the house, he observed an iMac on a desk in the kitchen area. The computer's serial number was the same as on the computer that was taken during a burglary.
During his interview with REACT Task Force Agent Tim Crowley, McFarlin allegedly admitted that he stole two iMacs, three iPads, three iPods, an Apple TV, a diamond necklace and earrings and "several other items" found in the house, including Jobs' personal items. According to the report, McFarlin told investigators that he threw several furniture cushions over the cyclone fence installed around the house because of renovations and dropped the stolen property on to the cushions to protect the items from breaking.
McFarlin also allegedly told the investigators that he had shipped the jewelry from the Waverley home to a seller in Pennsylvania (Palo Alto officers have since identified this seller, who agreed to return the jewelry). He also said he put the stolen items into his storage locker in Alameda. He consented to have the agents search the locker. Inside, they found a wallet containing Steve Jobs' driver's license, credit cards and "other personal items."
McFarlin explained during the interview that he had been homeless and was living on the streets in his car, according to the report. He said he targeted the house because it appeared to be under construction and dark inside. He parked the car on a side street, approached on foot and climbed the scaffolding to get over the fence surrounding the house.
Once inside the property, he found a key that he used to get into the main house, the report states. He "crept around the house because he was scared someone might be home." But he quickly learned that no one was around because he had made what the report describes as a "considerable amount of noise" and didn't see anyone coming.
According to the REACT report, McFarlin told investigators that he acted alone and that he did not realize whose house he was. He noticed two Apple computers bud didn't realize he was inside the late Steve Jobs' house until he found a letter addressed to Jobs.
After entering the residence, McFarlin "rummaged through all of the rooms, removing various computers and camera equipment," according to a report from Palo Alto Detective Sgt. James Reifschneider. He also allegedly told the police that he had given away two of the iPads he had stolen, one to his juvenile daughter and another to his friend, Kenneth Kahn. Both Kahn and McFarlin's daughter said during the investigation that they didn't know the items had been stolen and handed them over to the REACT agents.
McFarlin admitted to Norton that he had entered about 15 to 20 homes but only stole items from four or five of them, Norton wrote in his report. McFarlin also said the other burglaries all took place in San Francisco, according to the report. Norton wrote that he will be conducting further investigation "to identify other burglaries committed by him and file cases in the appropriate counties."
At the end of his interview with the REACT agent, McFarlin agreed to write an apology letter, Norton wrote.
"Kariem McFarlin stated he would like to write a letter of apology and authored a one-page letter identifying that he had burglarized the Jobs' home and stolen their property but had done so because he was desperate," Norton wrote.
Tsui told the Weekly it did not appear from the investigation that the home was targeted because of its association with one of Silicon Valley's leading pioneers.
"As far as we know, it seems like it was random," Tsui said.
McFarlin was arraigned on Aug. 7 and is next scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 20, at which time he is expected to enter a plea. He is facing charges of burglary and selling of stolen property, Tsui said. The maximum sentence he can receive is seven years and eight months.
He is currently being held on $500,000 bail.
The incident is the latest in a long string of burglaries that has hit Palo Alto and other Bay Area cities in recent months. By early May, the city had reported 81 residential burglaries in the first four months of the year, compared to 34 in 2010 and 43 in 2011. The trend seemed to have eased off in April, when the number of reported burglaries dropped to seven. However, three more Palo Alto home burglaries were reported this past weekend, according to a police report.
The troubling trend had prompted the police department to launch a "Lock It or Lose It!" education campaign aimed at educating residents on ways to prevent burglaries and detect suspicious behavior.
The department had also added more manpower, including plain-clothes officers, to its burglary-suppression operation, and assigned two day-shift officers to work with burglary detectives specifically on stopping this trend. Police encourage residents to keep their home and car doors and windows locked and to lock their yard gates.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by to the editor:, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 11:10 am Not sure I would have referred to this house as "Steve Jobs' home" since he no longer lives there, alas.
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Posted by Dani, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 11:28 am Can't we just leave this family ALONE they lost enough this last year. I would check out the people working on this house. Must be an inside job!!!!!
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Posted by and another thought, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 11:49 am Editors:
How thoughtful of you to make this home a mark.
I haven't seen you identify by address or name other houses or residents in your coverage of prior Palo Alto burglaries.
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Posted by Wow, a resident of the Palo Alto Hills neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 12:27 pm Wow, Dani, you missed the part about the person they arrested.
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Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 12:42 pm What, nobody's clamoring for a mug shot yet?
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Posted by Lock it or Lose it???!!!, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 1:01 pm Lock it or Lose it?!! Is anybody else offended by the inference of the name of this program? I mean, are the police really telling us that if we don't lock our doors, we will lose our dearest possessions? Are they proclaiming helplessness? Burglary is the most serious crime occurring in Palo Alto today. All available resources should be assigned to stopping this crime spree and finding and arresting culprits. Maybe the Weekly can do a story on what is being done to combat this plague. As far as I can tell, it's just business as usual for the police. The arrests that have been made appear to have resulted mostly from dumb luck and not from great police work.
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Posted by Nayeli, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 2:19 pm One less thief is off of the streets. Let's hope that he stays off until he learns his lesson...and can become an efficient member of society.
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Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 3:01 pm Bad news, regardless of whoever's home it is. Unless of course we are being told that this home was targeted because of the fact that it was the Jobs' home. Is this the case? Doubt it.
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Posted by It's OK, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 3:04 pm He apologized, let him go. Palo Altans can certainly afford the occasional robbery of their gilded stuff.
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Posted by neighbor, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 3:28 pm This is one Palo Altan (Mr. Jobs' widow) who can surely afford topflight security systems/technology and even a private patrol.
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Posted by Dan, a resident of the Southgate neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 4:29 pm EDITORS:
Please stop publishing the methods used to locate stolen Apple products. If you continue, thieves will develop work-arounds and cases will go unsolved.
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Posted by daniel, a resident of the Embarcadero Oaks/Leland neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 4:46 pm "One less thief is off of the street":I guess you meant one more thief is off the street. regardless, this thief stole about $33,000 worth of property. Fair enough, he'll get his comeuppance. How many tens of millions, perhaps more, have two unnamed politicians running for the highest office in the land stolen by not paying taxes through offshore accounts and other accounting gimmicks? Where is the outrage?
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Posted by Oh MY, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 5:09 pm One arrest in over 100 residential burglaries this year is quite a statement of our new 2 tier salaried police force. With veteran police officers joining the exodus of city employees, a special thanks go out to the city manager and individual city council members who sold out public safety to create our new unsafe neighborhoods. Quite an accomplishment!
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Posted by Helen, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 5:28 pm I hope they keep the jack in jail and throw away the key. Everyone is desperate nowadays, however, we don't break into people's homes. He deserves all the punishment allowed by law....
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Posted by Sharon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 5:35 pm
The Jobs Palo Alto home had 4+ security guards 24/7 for many months before and after his death.
It is amazing that they did not have a competent electronic security system in place 24/7--- particularly as the house was vacant during the recent re roofing.
Looks like somebody dropped the ball -very big time.
Home invasion is a very horrible experience for the victims-even if they are not at home.
It is a profound and enduring violation.
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Posted by janie, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 5:37 pm Throw him in the hammer and toss away the key!!!!
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Posted by I paid for mine, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 5:58 pm McFarlin gave stolen iPads to a friend and to a juvenile daughter? And they didn't know they were stolen?
Perhaps McFarland had the wherewithal to scrub them first?
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Posted by DavidSpade, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 6:02 pm I'll bet samsung was behind this. Looking for iphone 5 and 6 planes in the hose of Jobs
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Posted by Kate, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 7:11 pm The PAPD revealed far too much information on this case - almost like giving out the football 'playbook' to the opposing team. Why? Was it to make itself look good? If so, it did tell me that the old adage is true - "A slip of the lip can sink a ship'.In other words,don't tell 'shop secrets'......especially in detective work.
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Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Aug 14, 2012 at 7:34 pm Yawn.
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Posted by Skeptical, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 7:54 pm Great that that caught this guy. Bad that they explained how in too much detail. But I'm wondering, if this had been somebody else's home, whether the REACT and other law enforcment officials would respond as massively and effectively as they have in this particular case.
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Posted by Wow, a resident of the Palo Alto Hills neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 10:05 pm If the information they used to find the guy is in the affidavit, it becomes public record. The police don't release this, the press does. I'm sure they do not want us to know this either
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Posted by Not too smart, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 14, 2012 at 11:03 pm My query is when you're having extensive work done on your house, I think most people would remove anything of value; I know I did when I had workmen in my house. I also removed filing cabinets with sensitive personal information in them as well as sterios, computers etc.
It appear that Steve Job's family left some $50,000 worth of valuables in an open house during renovations.
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Posted by Nayeli, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 12:03 am @ daniel:
Yes, that was a typo. However, why do you feel the need to insert politics into each and every comment that you make? This isn't about politicians, elections or personal political ideology. It is about a crook who broke into someone's home and stole $66,000 worth of items.
Like I said, I hope that this man is off of the streets long enough to learn how to behave...and how to not do it again.
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Posted by Bob, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 8:55 am As someone points out above, the police have not released any information on this case.
Everything that has been reported in the press appears to have been taken from the court records that are public once the guy is arrested and arraigned.
I agree that the police shouldn't divulge their investigative secrets but, in this case, they didn't.
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Posted by Suzy, a resident of another community, on Aug 15, 2012 at 10:27 am If the police were able to get a warrant to search McFarlin's Alameda home, which this article states is a house - not a car, I don't think the suspect was telling the truth about being homeless and living in his car. Or, was the warrant for someone else's house and it was just mis-reported?
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Posted by neighbor, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 10:36 am @Skeptical, the answer is probably no, the response would not have been so great...although my comparison is not quite direct...
We know someone who had an iPhone taken in a strong-arm robbery on public transit and the police did very little (East Bay)though tracking was on (I take it, it necessitates both the victim and police working together to use this system to catch perps)
Since portable high tech gadgets are so prevalent, I think we need better systems (not just for wealthy persons) to protect us when we are out in public or just storing our items at home. Disclaimer: I don't have a lot of such gadgets myself in case anyone reading this is interested...
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Posted by Jane, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 10:39 am He knew whose house he was targeting. It is not rocket science to figure that out!!!
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Posted by Suzy, a resident of another community, on Aug 15, 2012 at 11:05 am I also think that just because the late Steve Jobs and his family were victims of this crime, they should not be the only ones to receive an apology letter. Apology letters should go out to every single home he broke into and robbed.
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Posted by some guy, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 11:37 am "McFarlin admitted to Norton that he had entered about 15 to 20 homes but only stole items from four or five of them."
Does he actually think that because he didnt steal from the other homes its less of a crime, this is a big dude if someone confronted him in the act im willing to bet he could do some damage.
"Kariem McFarlin stated he would like to write a letter of apology and authored a one-page letter identifying that he had burglarized the Jobs' home and stolen their property but had done so because he was desperate," Norton wrote.
In that case lets just let all criminals write a letter of apology and they can go.
A strong healthy young able man desperate?! He must be extremely stupid and incompetent to not be able to find a job and pay his way lawfully.
And on top of that this story is just way to sugarcoated it makes this thief seem more like a victim than what he is, a criminal.
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Posted by Just one of the Proletariat, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 12:13 pm How interesting to learn of the ways that stolen items can be tracked down. Were this not the property of Steve Jobs, I doubt so much effort would have been made to locate the burglar, let alone all the stolen property. While it is a good thing he was caught, I wish the police could go to such lengths to help all victims, not just the special ones.
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Posted by Corey Levens, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 12:46 pm I would have loved to have had this level of police investigation, support and concern when my house was burglarized. After performing a seemingly thorough investigation on the day of the burglary, nothing happened and we had very limited contact with the PAPD. And, no, we didn't leave our house open or unlocked...a door was kicked in. We locked it and still lost it.
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Posted by MzMiranda, a resident of Menlo Park, on Aug 15, 2012 at 12:51 pm Shame on you for making it so clear what kinds of things are in this home. It's like putting a neon sign in the neighborhood saying, "great stuff available here." Can't we leave this family alone? A detailed list of each valuable item? This is voyeurism. Not responsible editorial, here. The Editors should have caught this.
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Posted by John Galt, a resident of the Fairmeadow neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 1:17 pm Thanks again to the Press, publishing info on how the police recover stolen property! What, does journalism school remove some of your brain cells? Or just your ethics?
Oh, right, the "public's" need to know trumps every thing else.
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Posted by EPA Mom, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Aug 15, 2012 at 2:40 pm So much of his story is bunk. He's homeless and living in his car, but he has an iTunes account and a home ... and he has a buyer in Pennsylvania who he already has lined up to ship stolen high end jewelry to ... he went into other homes but didn't take anything but he steals a soda maker and headphones among the higher end items there ... and he didn't know it was Steve Jobs house until he saw his name on a letter - well, he knew while he was still in their home. What a jerk!
And, too bad normal people don't get that kind of tracking when their homes get burglarized.
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Posted by mmmmMom, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 8:40 pm It doesn't matter if you are wealthy, poor, famous or not famous - to be a victim of home robbery is really terrible. And the increasing number of residential break ins should be a concern for ALL of us.
I'm so glad the thief was apprehended, & I hope he goes to jail for the longest possible period.
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Posted by another mom, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 12:04 am mmmmmMom,
Agreed. I was upset to see Ch7 covering the robbery by advertising all the things found like it was lotto TV, showing the intersection signs and the view of the house, as well as how the robber got in. Seems to me this type of media coverage is the worse home invasion.
Hasn't his widow and kids been through enough? I thought the Weekly coverage was much more informative and sensitive, but agree with the post above that I wish the stories would be a little less explicit for awhile about how the police find the crooks. Let the crooks leave high tech breadcrumbs for awhile.
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Posted by Suzy, a resident of another community, on Aug 16, 2012 at 10:39 am I commend the investigative efforts to help the Jobs family. I just want to know: Will PAPD and the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) Task Force help other people get their stolen items back?
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Posted by Enough!, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 2:11 pm Knock it off with the smart ass comments. I don't care who owns the property, stealing is wrong and this individual is an entitled scumbag. This whole attitude that because someone is wealthy they deserve to be burglarized is appalling.
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Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Aug 16, 2012 at 8:54 pm I don't see people posting that because someone is wealthy they deserve to be burglarized. What I am reading is justifiable upset that so many resources were put toward a property crime because the victims are high profile. This man was caught because he was stupid. The Jobs family was robbed because they were equally stupid re their lack of home security. It's common knowledge that an unoccupied house will attract criminal attention. I'm so glad that this man was caught. Let's hope that the cops AND residents do their jobs to prevent future burglaries.
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Posted by Sarah, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 18, 2012 at 3:23 pm I want to hire those contractors! For months they've had access to the house and not a thing was taken. Bravo.
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Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Aug 18, 2012 at 3:37 pm Most of the investigation was actually done by Apple - not the police department. Stop complaining!
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