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Really disappointed in TNW's title selection. Apple tells employees not to confront thiefs if they show up with stolen goods, and TNW's response is to call this questionable? Really? The original owner gets their device back, and Apple takes the hit for the stolen device. How is this "questionable"?
The HN title I think does not capture the content of the article.

The phone was stolen, and that is a police problem, not an Apple problem.

'The Apple clerk at the Genius Bar assumed it was a phone malfunction, and seemingly without checking to make sure, handed the man a brand new phone and put Barkley’s stolen phone in the back, to be sent off for servicing.'

Nowhere does it say it is Apple's policy to give holders of stolen phones a free phone, and that isn't what happened in this case. The two are mutually exclusive.

This is actually very common in retail. Thieve rings do this all the time; steal from one city then exchange in another, then sell the in-store credit online. The stores know how to track the activity and turn in the suspected thieves. Asking your store employees to act as police officers is a pretty ridiculous request.