Apparently, the original finder contacted Apple to return the device before selling it to Gizmodo.
Well, no.
The law gives him the option of: 1) finding the owner and returning it, or 2) turning it in to the police.
What the guy actually did, it seems, was poke around in the phone, find out the name, Facebook details, etc. of the person who'd lost it, and then... called an Apple customer-support line to tell them a vague story about finding something that might or might not legitimately be an iPhone.
Even if we accept that as a bona-fide attempt to return it to the owner, the only other option the law gives him is turning it in to the police. From that point forward, anything he did which was not "turn it in to the police" qualifies as theft; the relevant bit of California law has been quoted so many times in so many threads that there's really no argument left on that point.
And since "sell it to a tabloid for $$$" is not "turn it in to the police", well, you can kinda see how we end up at criminal investigations and search warrants.
Right. Whoever heard of a journalist making their own phone calls? Everyone knows that rule 1 of journalism is that you just sit around and hope interesting stories will find their way to you. Rule 2 is that you never, ever attempt to confirm any information that does come your way.
