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iPod touch My son's lost iPod was found and I see who has it

M

MTShipp

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 25, 2009
907
270
Raleigh, North Carolina
Long story shortened...

My son lost his iPod Touch at school. No one turned it in to lost & found so we assumed it was gone. I tried to use the "find my iPhone" feature and that did not work. We moved on.

Today, I logged into Game Center on my iPad and was surprised to see my son's handle in GC was changed and a picture shows up. It is some kid's self-photo taken in the mirror at the school's bathroom while holding my son's iPod.

My son does not recognize him (large school) but the device still does not show up in "FMiP" so he evidently was able to kill that but did not realize (or does not care) that GC is still active with me (his father) friended.

These are high school kids. My son's iTunes account is not compromised as far as we can tell because his balance is still the same as when he lost it.

BTW, he is gaming with it so the scores are going up :p

What would you do?
 
I would print out screen shots of the perp and go to the school administrators, they will know who the student is. Ask them if they could call the student into the office and ask for the device back.
 
MTShipp said:
Today, I logged into Game Center on my iPad and was surprised to see my son's handle in GC was changed and a picture shows up. It is some kid's self-photo taken in the mirror at the school's bathroom while holding my son's iPod.

My son does not recognize him (large school) but the device still does not show up in "FMiP" so he evidently was able to kill that but did not realize (or does not care) that GC is still active with me (his father) friended.

These are high school kids. My son's iTunes account is not compromised as far as we can tell because his balance is still the same as when he lost it.

What would you do?
Click to expand...

Eh, these are always hard situations...

A couple things first - Do you have the S/N of the iPod? Is it registered online with your sons contact info? Nobody's going to look into it if you can't prove it was your sons to begin with. (and not sure a Game Center handle would cut it) You can't prove theft if you can't prove you owned it.

Did your son file a theft report with the school? I know you said he lost it, but are you sure someone didn't steal it and he just didn't notice? I'm sure ever school has different procedures, but you should be able to report theft to either a school official, school police or admin. Make sure he has the S/N and try to get a printed screenshot of the picture you were talking about.

When I was in HS, 6 years ago, I had my iPod stolen too. I had the S/N, reported it and had a pretty good idea who did it. When I went to report it, I met with the school police officer, and he pretty much laughed at me and said "Oh, well, iPods aren't aloud on campus. So we can't do anything." I was pretty shocked, as I believe theft is theft. But the school didn't agree and wouldn't follow up with anything. (BTW, this was a public school in southern FL).

Take that for what it's worth - I would still try, as all schools vary in policies and you might get some cops who are willing to do their jobs :rolleyes:
 
What would I do?

Well because I'm not a very nice person, I'd find him, and I'd beat the living **** out of him.
 
1. Take it to school, with serial number (get it from iTunes or your receipt)
2. Take it to police if school does not want to deal with it
 
Does the school have a yearbook? Maybe use that to compare it to the person or let your kid ask around if someone knows of the thief in his group of friends?

How big is the school?
 
Since this post, we did find out who this kid is.

School is out for the summer right now but when it starts I plan to go and speak to the school resource officer (hired cops that provide security).

I do have the original receipt from Amazon and it is registered with Apple in my name, not my son's so I have the serial.
 
MTShipp said:
Since this post, we did find out who this kid is.

School is out for the summer right now but when it starts I plan to go and speak to the school resource officer (hired cops that provide security).

I do have the original receipt from Amazon and it is registered with Apple in my name, not my son's so I have the serial.
Click to expand...

If you found the kid, sort it out privately with his parents. If you can't reach an agreement, take it to the police. No need to take a private matter public unless you truly need to get official help.
 
Steve121178 said:
Good advice if you fancy a spell in prison.
Click to expand...

There's always the risk (I'd make it look like a mugging of course, and rob the **** of everything, not just the iPod). Quite frankly though avenging my own blood would be worth it.
 
Well I realize you wrote a shortened story but it sounds like your son's iPod was "lost" as opposed to "stolen." Big difference in how it should be handled. If I lose something and someone "finds" it, they have every right to keep it. It was my lack of responsibility in the first place that caused it to be "lost."

If your son's iPod was stolen deliberately, then that opens up a new set of legal quandaries. The burden of proof will be on your son: to show that his iPod was intentionally removed from his possession with or without his knowledge or consent. Most likely if you report this to law enforcement, they will tell you it is a civil matter. Proving criminal intent will be difficult at best unless his locker was pried open or it was forcibly removed on his person by way of strong arm robbery. The other obstacle you will face is the fact that the iPod is not an expensive device, so law enforcement is not going to spend thousands of dollars of tax payer money trying to intercept your son's device.

Not trying to sound unsympathetic to your cause, but hopefully you can try talking to the person who "found" it and in being nice (as opposed to being threatening) he or she will simply have a heart and give it back. You can't force someone to give up something they legitimately found in most cases. There are exceptions of course but generally no. Good luck.
 
baypharm said:
Well I realize you wrote a shortened story but it sounds like your son's iPod was "lost" as opposed to "stolen." Big difference in how it should be handled. If I lose something and someone "finds" it, they have every right to keep it. It was my lack of responsibility in the first place that caused it to be "lost."

If your son's iPod was stolen deliberately, then that opens up a new set of legal quandaries. The burden of proof will be on your son: to show that his iPod was intentionally removed from his possession with or without his knowledge or consent. Most likely if you report this to law enforcement, they will tell you it is a civil matter. Proving criminal intent will be difficult at best unless his locker was pried open or it was forcibly removed on his person by way of strong arm robbery. The other obstacle you will face is the fact that the iPod is not an expensive device, so law enforcement is not going to spend thousands of dollars of tax payer money trying to intercept your son's device.

Not trying to sound unsympathetic to your cause, but hopefully you can try talking to the person who "found" it and in being nice (as opposed to being threatening) he or she will simply have a heart and give it back. You can't force someone to give up something they legitimately found in most cases. There are exceptions of course but generally no. Good luck.
Click to expand...


Wow, this is both inaccurate and misguided. "Finders keepers" isn't exactly a law. If you find something you are responsible to take it to the police in order to attempt to return it to it's rightful owner. If that person doesn't claim it within a certain timeframe (depending on state), then you are entitled to the property.

To the OP, I would defintely try to resolve this without the school/law if you can. Chances are there wasn't malicious intent, just a kid that thought he found a "Free" ipod.
 
Sirus2400 said:
To the OP, I would defintely try to resolve this without the school/law if you can. Chances are there wasn't malicious intent, just a kid that thought he found a "Free" ipod.
Click to expand...

I agree, contact the parents and sort it out. If that fails, you'll find other ways.
 
baypharm said:
If I lose something and someone "finds" it, they have every right to keep it.
Click to expand...

It's true that a lot of people feel that if they can't keep track of their stuff they deserve to lose it, but just to clarify: the law generally doesn't support a "right" to assume ownership of presumed unattended property. If that were the case, anyone could take anything they could say they thought was "lost", and defend themselves on that basis. When you find property you know the one and most important thing you need to know: it isn't yours, and on that basis, you don't have a legal right to assume ownership of it.

Besides, wouldn't it just be nice if people tried to get things back to their rightful owners, instead of trying to abscond with them all the time?
 
sporadicMotion said:
Defecate in his locker
Click to expand...

You see, I don't get why this kind of revenge is frowned upon. If the kid actually did steal it, he deserves it. Of course, he might have just found it on the ground and thought it was long gone, but he should really turn it into the lost and found.

----------
baypharm said:
Well I realize you wrote a shortened story but it sounds like your son's iPod was "lost" as opposed to "stolen." Big difference in how it should be handled. If I lose something and someone "finds" it, they have every right to keep it. It was my lack of responsibility in the first place that caused it to be "lost."
Click to expand...

There was a MacBook charger at our school for a long time that someone just forgot about, and I took it after a week because people at my school tend to lose stuff easily then buy a replacement and forget about it. I put the thing out in the open multiple times too. This is different from the guy here who found an iPod that was lost for a day and took it.

But if I found out that someone was looking for a MacBook charger, I'd give it to that person immediately, not keep it like a d*****.
 
baypharm said:
Well I realize you wrote a shortened story but it sounds like your son's iPod was "lost" as opposed to "stolen." Big difference in how it should be handled. If I lose something and someone "finds" it, they have every right to keep it. It was my lack of responsibility in the first place that caused it to be "lost."
Click to expand...

Pretty sure you'd be singing a different tune if it was your iPod.
 
You should tell your son and have him try to recover it himself. Likely, the other kid will know whats happening and whats good for him, and just give up the ipod, and the matter ends there. If he can't recover it, you can then go to his parents to try and recover it yourself. And definitely, don't **** in the kid's locker.:eek:
 
Judas1 said:
You should tell your son and have him try to recover it himself. Likely, the other kid will know whats happening and whats good for him, and just give up the ipod, and the matter ends there. If he can't recover it, you can then go to his parents to try and recover it yourself. And definitely, don't **** in the kid's locker.:eek:
Click to expand...

I agree.

And nobody wins when poop is involved.:eek:
 
Sirus2400 said:
Wow, this is both inaccurate and misguided. "Finders keepers" isn't exactly a law. If you find something you are responsible to take it to the police in order to attempt to return it to it's rightful owner. If that person doesn't claim it within a certain timeframe (depending on state), then you are entitled to the property.

To the OP, I would defintely try to resolve this without the school/law if you can. Chances are there wasn't malicious intent, just a kid that thought he found a "Free" ipod.
Click to expand...

The only one "misguided" here is your reply. I never implied finders keepers is a law. Your third sentence doesn't even make sense - a lack of basic english skills - so I must laugh at your attempt to make a stand on this. Ha Ha.
 
baypharm said:
The only one "misguided" here is your reply. I never implied finders keepers is a law. Your third sentence doesn't even make sense - a lack of basic english skills - so I must laugh at your attempt to make a stand on this. Ha Ha.
Click to expand...

I'd say that sentence makes sense. It may have a few minor grammatical errors, but overall it gets across its point.
 
One thing to worry about is retribution. If the perp is a bad guy, then going after him might bring harassment and all that high school stuff. Frankly I just don't see bringing expensive little devices to a school and why they are even allowed. Got to be nothing but trouble.
 
On every forum in the world stupid people dwell on grammar as a form of importance and relevance to an argument. It's so pathetic and completely predicable. You just make yourself look like an even bigger prick than you are.

People use phones to write messages these days. Get over it.
 
baypharm said:
If I lose something and someone "finds" it, they have every right to keep it.
Click to expand...

Um, in a word, no.

Let me give you a quote from the law in my state, and other states are similar.

"A. A person commits theft if, without lawful authority, the person knowingly:

4. Comes into control of lost, mislaid or misdelivered property of another under circumstances providing means of inquiry as to the true owner and appropriates such property to the person's own or another's use without reasonable efforts to notify the true owner
 
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