[Zusha Elinson]
So, about that guy who picked up the world’s most famous missing iPhone (free reg. req.) from the bar and sold it to Gizmodo? His lawyer says he’s “the kind of young man that any parent would be proud of to have as their son.”
Well, that’s nice.
The rest of the statement from veteran criminal lawyer Jeff Bornstein of K &L Gates is as follows:
We represent a 21 year-old young man, Brian Hogan, who has never been in trouble with the law. Brian was in a bar with friends when another bar patron handed him the phone after finding it on a bar stool near the area where Brian was sitting. Brian said the phone was not his but the bar patron walked away from the conversation and left the bar. Brian asked others near him if the phone belonged to them. When they disclaimed ownership, Brian and his friends left the bar with the phone.
Brian opened the phone onto a Facebook page but then the phone shut down. From that time on, the phone was inoperable the entire time Brian had it. He regrets his mistake in not doing more to return the phone. His friend did tell him he'd called Apple Care. Even though he did obtain some compensation from Gizmodo, Brian thought that it was so that they could review the phone. Brian believed and Gizmodo emphasized to him that there was nothing wrong in sharing the phone with the tech press. Brian has been and is willing to cooperate.
Brian's friends describe him as a kind, caring and respectful young man who has done everything he could to cooperate with law enforcement. He is a college student who recently transferred schools and will resume his education in the fall semester. Brian has been working part time at a Church run community center where he was teaching swimming to kids age 3 to 10. He also has taught English in China to college students and volunteered at a Chinese orphanage in 2009 while enrolled in a study abroad program through college. In that same year, Brian volunteered in Vietnam to plant a friendship garden.
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