A man accused of stealing a woman's iPhone in one of those regrettably common Muni bus snatch-and-dash thefts was finally let off the hook by a jury in San Francisco last week. The robbery happened back in August on a 2 a.m. 14-Mission bus and the accused, 26-year-old Ronnie Morrisette, had been sitting in jail awaiting trial ever since.

The Weekly reports the confusion over the stolen gadget occurred when the victim, a tipsy Rebecca Olarte, ran off the bus to chase down the thief and crashed in to Morrisette instead. This being San Francisco, Morrisette happened to be holding his own iPhone as he stepped off the bus and thought the distressed woman was actually out to steal his device. While the two scuffled, the real thief made off with the goods.

After a week of trial and plenty of witnesses siding with Morrisette, a deputy public defender easily proved his client's innocence when evidence showed he had been booked in to jail with both an iPhone charger and headphones in his possession. Morrisette, who is "young and black, just like the thief", was acquitted of robbery, assault and false imprisonment.

Like Morrisette, Apple's Find My iPhone feature is also free.

[BCN/Appeal]
[SFWeekly]