The specifics of the iPad test units haven’t been disclosed

Apr 29, 2015 11:38 GMT  ·  By

Apple is expected to launch new iPad models alongside its 2015 iPhone lineup this autumn. The rumor mill is anticipating the advent of the notorious 12.9-inch iPad Pro (or Plus) model, as well as new iPad Air and iPad mini products.

And it appears that prototypes of these upcoming slates are already out and about, circling into the hands of Apple employees for testing purposes.

But one such device might have just accidentally made its way into the world a few months too soon. As a report coming out of Mercury News reveals, an iPad “test model” was stolen during a robbery and kidnapping at a Cupertino house this month.

A 20-year-old male was the victim of a robbery after answering a woman’s online advertisement and meeting with her and a male “associate” (actually her boyfriend) two blocks away from his Cupertino house. After a short discussion, they went to the victim’s home.

Once inside the establishment, the two “guests” threatened the victim with a knife and sprayed him in the face with pepper-spray.

The two perpetrators ran off with the mystery iPad

The two individuals, Kathrine Stump (20) and Alexander Nejar (25) from Dublin, proceeded to take the iPad test model, other electronics, prescription drugs and $7,500 / €6,817 in cash and forced the victim to drive them in his car three quarters of a mile from the house.

Oddly enough, the man restrained from going to the police and waited five days before telling officers what happened. He described the appearance of the two wrongdoers, which helped with their swift identification.

The man and woman are now in police’s custody on suspicion of kidnapping, first-degree robbery, and making criminal threats.

While we’re not given details about what sort of iPad prototype was stolen from the house, the device has yet to be recovered.

Apple faced a similar scenario a few years back, in 2010, when an Apple engineer forgot an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar and left. The “top-secret” device was recovered by two Bay Area men who sold it off to a Gizmodo journalist for $5,000 / €4,545.

Since Gizmodo published all the details about the secret device online, Steve Jobs himself brought authorities into the story, who conducted a raid at the journalist’s home in Fremont. The publication also got banned from Apple events for years.