November 17, 2013 Lost iphone tale

This write-up was posted originally on my Facebook page on November 7, 2013:

I think I will share my “lost iphone” true story. Three days ago I could not locate my iphone. I figured that it MIGHT have fallen out of my pants pocket along a nearby trail that I had ridden my bike on only an hour before. The last time I had seen the iphone was when I checked the stopwatch on it, to see how long it had taken me to ride to the top of the hill. I could not find the iphone in the house. I headed to work, and then to my mom’s house for a 2-day visit (she lives 2 hours from me). So, I was not able to search the trail for the phone right away, unfortunately.

While at mom’s I was hoping that the iphone was either at my home somewhere, or it was along the trail, or someone nice had found it and was holding it for me. One problem, though —- the phone had been put in “suspend” mode the week before, so I could not call the number to see if someone had it. There is no Internet at my mom’s place, so I didn’t have any easy way to go online, no way to use the “find my iphone” app, and I didn’t yet see the need to call Verizon for help, etc. Again, I was still kind of hoping that I would find it after looking a little more once I got back home.

So, yesterday I get back home, search the house, and no iphone. Since the phone was not activated, I wasn’t too concerned about a bad person finding it and going to town, looking at my e-mail and personal stuff, accounts, etc. The phone was secure with the 4-digit code that needs to be entered in order to use the phone. But, if someone had the time to try 10,000 code numbers, then maybe they would get lucky and somehow be able to use the phone and get at my e-mail and other accounts, like FB.

I went to the nearby Verizon store and asked them if they could temporarily “unsuspend” the phone so I could call the number. They could not, but they gave me a Verizon number to call for this. I made the call, and the Verizon person was nice and tried to help. She called the phone, and no one answered. I had her “de-activate” the phone again — back into “suspend” mode. So, the phone rang, which meant that it was still turned on, and battery life remained, 48 hours after the fateful bike ride. I went online to “find my iphone”, and the phone showed up at a residence near the Glendale/Tujunga area, about 35 miles east of me! So, the phone was not along the trail, not at my house —- someone else had it! That is nerve-wracking — and why is it WAY across town? If I lost it along the nearby trail, then it most likely would be picked up by a local and be in Westlake Village or Agoura or Thousand Oaks — not in Glendale! Since the phone was not activated, I knew that the finder would not easily be able to determine who it belonged to. Anyone calling the phone’s number would just get the Verizon recording, and the phone would not ring. But why didn’t anyone answer it when Verizon called it? I looked up the address of the residence where the phone was on Google maps and zoomed in — it looked like the phone was in the garage or front room. Then, after Verizon made the call to the phone (and no one answered), the phone location icon moved in between that house and the house next door —– a kind of strange spot. Did the finder throw it in the trash? Did the finder get scared by the phone call and try to get rid of the phone?

So, what to do next? I couldn’t race off to Glendale, as I had to work in a few hours. But, Verizon advised me to call the police to report the lost iphone. I called the Glendale police department, but they told me to call my local police. I called the Ventura County sheriff, and they sent a deputy to my house. He took the report, and said that he would not be able to drive to Glendale to knock on the door where the phone was, but I could call the Glendale police again to see if they could help, and this time I would have an official police report number to provide. I called Glendale police again, and had to give a quick voicemail recording regarding my plight. I figured that they would ignore my message.

I continued to watch the “find my iphone” app online, and, an hour or so before I had to head off for work at 5 p.m., the phone had moved to a location a few miles southwest of the Glendale residence. Now it was along Tuna Canyon Rd., a remote road in the Verdugo Mountains. The dot on the map was at a turnout along the south side of the road. The 210 Foothill Freeway was about a mile to the east, and a building or two were a mile to the west, but this was really boony-ville. How is my iphone still providing its location? It isn’t supposed to be activated! There must be Verizon coverage along this road, but I couldn’t figure out how in the heck it was still transmitting its location. Did the iphone finder figure out the 4-digit code? Was he or she using the phone and looking at my e-mail and everything else? Should I go ahead and erase everything on the phone? The “find your iphone” app showed the phone meandering around this remote road pullout, and it strayed south of the road along a path some 30 yards from the road. Was there some sort of nefarious activity going on here?

I called Verizon back to tell them what was going on, and I asked them to call the number again. But, they said that they could only do that once per day for me. They also said that, since the iphone was not activated, that the location/GPS transmission must be due to a Wi-Fi connection. But there is no Wi-Fi available out there in the boonies! It HAD to be Wi-Fi, though. The only way that my iphone could be transmitting its location would be if there were another cell phone with the person who had my iphone, and the other cell phone was acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Obviously, my iphone was set to work with any available non-secured Wi-Fi, and here it was telling me its location along a remote mountain road, and it is still kind of meandering around the same pullout. I was surprised that the battery had not run out yet. This was very strange. I was very close to erasing my phone remotely, but I did not. I DID have insurance coverage in case my iphone was lost or stolen, but I just wanted to get the dang thing back in my hands and move on with my life! I knew where it was, and I didn’t want the big hassle of getting a replacement and re-programming the new one, etc. I went to work at 5 p.m., with my phone along Tuna Canyon Road…and all of the info still on it.

After work, at 11 p.m., I got home from work and went online again. My phone was closer! It was now in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, near Parthenia and Kester streets —- in Panorama City, just north of Van Nuys. I zoomed in on the location and checked street view. My iphone was at an apartment complex — ugh — in a fairly dubious neighborhood. I was downcast, as it seemed that some hoodlum or low-life was carrying my phone around from one suspicious area to another, and finally to their home in a low-income area. I figured that my iphone was one of 100s of stolen iphones in his apartment, and that the holder of my iphone made his living selling these things. Again, I was amazed that my phone was still sending out its location —- it was using Wi-Fi from somewhere or someone! Was the iphone finder playing games with me?

I decided last night that I would go to where my iphone was the next day and give it a shot. Hopefully it would not be moving around all over the place! And hopefully I would live to tell about it.

This morning, the iphone app showed the phone in the exact same spot — at the apartment in Panorama City — but the location was 10 hours old, from last night’s fix. Maybe the battery had run out, or the Wi-Fi at this place was not on now! I could not determine the exact address number (on Willis St.), but I could see the address of the apartment complex just to its south. I knew exactly which part of the apartment complex to investigate — about halfway down on the right, directly across from the third chimney on the left. Before leaving home, I called Verizon again. They called the number for me, but, again, no answer. They put the phone back on suspend/deactivate mode. And, I made one last check of the “find my iphone” page on my laptop —- the phone was still at the same apartment —- it had not moved, and this was a current, updated fix!

I headed east and northeast the 25 miles or so to Van Nuys. I first stopped at the L.A. Police station in Van Nuys to see if they could help. If I were knocking on the door of a big-time criminal ring, then having a policeman next to me would help! They had me talk to a detective, and she said that they really could not just go around the apartment complex asking about my iphone. She didn’t seem convinced that I had the spot narrowed down to the nearest meter or two, and that this would be a case of just checking one or two apartments. And, she said she did not recommend doing this by myself. She said that the area was not a good area, that I would “stand out”, that it just seemed safer to forget about it and get the replacement phone with the insurance. Finally, she said that the location was in the Devonshire Division, and that if I wanted police help, I would have to call the station near Rinaldi and Sepulveda, about 6-7 miles to the north. I walked out of the Van Nuys Police station, knowing I would be doing this without their help.

I drove up Van Nuys Blvd. to Roscoe and to the Willis Street address. This area is heavily Hispanic, low-income, VERY L.A.-like now. The whites have long since fled, and I stand out. But, I know that the vast majority are very nice people, and I held out hope that someone nice in Panorama City somehow wound up with my cell phone. I was SO close to it now!

I wasn’t able to go online for a last-second fix of the iphone before walking up to the apartment gate. Fortunately, someone was walking out of the complex as I walked up, and I made my way in. I counted the chimneys along the side of the apartments on the left, and stopped at the third one. My cell phone had to be in the apartment on the right! Shoot — there were two doors there —- two apartments to choose from. No one else was around, it was bright and sunny, but quiet and a little scary. I was going to knock, then I got a little wimpy and walked back down the walkway a bit. Heck, I drove all this way and I’m NOT going to wimp out! I practiced to myself what I was going to say if some big bad dude answered the door: “Uh, hi, uh, sorry to bother you, but apparently my iphone is here at your apartment, according to the location finder thingie dealie…or maybe it is in the apartment right next to you…please don’t shoot me.” I timidly knocked on the door on the left. A minute passes, no one opens the door, and I am still alive. I knock on the other door, same thing. Dang. No one is home, or they are spying on me and planning my untimely demise. I walked back to the car, somewhat despondent, knowing that my phone was only a few steps from me, but I couldn’t get my hands on it.

It was lunch time, and I had a few other plans running through my head. I would first stop at a McDonalds and check my laptop with their free Wi-Fi to see if my phone still showed up at the apartment. The McDonalds Wi-Fi here cost $2.95 — what the heck?! I drove to my old stomping grounds around Van Nuys AP, where another McDonalds was located, but I decided to have a double-double and fries instead at In-N-Out Burger. I took my food to the nearby McDonalds and checked the iphone location. The updated fix showed it in another apartment at the complex, maybe 30-40 yards from its previous location. I really needed help with this endeavor — someone sitting somewhere with a laptop and a connection that I could talk to while I was in the area, or I needed someone else’s iphone to help me hone in on the location. But, alas, I had no help today.

I was thinking, why does my iphone continue to transmit its location if it is deactivated? Does this “finder” carry wi-fi everywhere he or she goes? If my iphone is useless to this person, why is he or she carrying it around all over the place? Or, is the phone actually functioning somehow for this individual? Did they figure out the passcode? Was all of my money draining out of my bank accounts, and was my e-mail being hacked and was someone posting goofy stuff on my FB account? Well, the latter would be nothing new. If my phone was being used by an evil-doer, then how could they be so dumb as to allow the phone’s location to be determined by me? I continued to hold out hope as I ate my fries and burger. I was close, again, to hitting the “erase my iphone” button and calling it quits. But, maybe a friend or two of mine who lived nearby could check out that apartment later on. I didn’t want to hang out here all afternoon. But, asking a friend to do my dirty work and to risk bodily harm probably wasn’t a great idea. The “find your iphone” web page has a “lost iphone” option on there. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anything to try that — maybe I should have tried that sooner. I didn’t know exactly what hitting that entailed, though. Would stuff be erased? Would the iphone finder get a laugh out of that? I hit the “lost” button, and it said that a message would appear on the phone — “This phone is lost, please call ****.” So, I filled in my home number, thinking that whoever has my phone now has even MORE info on me — not good! And, since I was in Van Nuys, I decided to add to the message — please call me after 2:30 p.m.

I arrived home a little before 2:30 p.m., and checked the iphone location again. It now seemed to be in the parking area behind the same, original apartment! Is the GPS location on the phone that good, or does it wander around a bit even if the phone does not move? Well, it seemed that someone still had the phone on them. On the “lost” iphone web page, you can have the phone make a sound. Again, I had no idea if this would work, given that the phone was suspended. But, I really had nothing to lose. I was about to erase the phone. I would hit the “sound” button, and the evildoer/finder would have another laugh at my expense. I hit the sound button. I was thinking about the hassle of talking to the insurance folks and getting everything set up again on my new iphone —- what a headache! Then, at 2:35 p.m., my home phone rang! This was just a minute or two after I had hit the “sound” button! Could this be the finder?

I said “hello”, and the voice on the other end was a woman with somewhat broken English and a Spanish accent. YES!!! She didn’t quite know what to say, except “I was hoping someone would call the phone so I could get it back to the owner!” YES!! Her name is “Sonya”, and she found the phone near the start of the trail along Westlake Blvd. That’s where I must have dropped it, or someone found it along the trail and left it at this conspicuous spot, hoping I would come back to find it —- we figured. Sonya lives in Panorama City, and I told her that I had tracked the phone to her address, and she was surprised that I knew where she lived! She said that she worked in Westlake Village, and she found the phone on Tuesday when she went on a hike. She did not go to work today (Thursday) because she had the flu. Sonya said she told her boys that she wanted to do the right thing and hold the phone, hoping that the owner or someone would call it so that it might be returned. Of course, with the phone deactivated, that was not going to happen, and somehow she missed the two calls from Verizon. It was kind of difficult to understand her over the phone and I didn’t ask her about all of the strange phone movements and Wi-Fi transmissions, but we are meeting tomorrow here in Westlake Village before she begins work, and I will get my phone back. THANK YOU, SONYA!!