iPad probe: Eckhardt showed poor judgment

The father of an 8-year-old girl whose iPad was taken from a Starbucks at the Salt Lake City International Airport on July 19 requested that Larry Eckhardt, the Maricopa police lieutenant who had the device in his possession, be criminally prosecuted.

Public records, requested by InMaricopa, reveal that the iPad reported missing by Los Angeles resident Brad Carter was located by GPS to the block were Eckhardt lived in Maricopa.

Eckhardt turned it over to the Maricopa Police Department after attempts were made to locate it by officers walking door-to-door and an email was sent by Carter to the device requesting the finder turn it over to MPD.

Eckhardt was placed on administrative leave July 22 and sent back to work by then-Interim Police Chief Steven Stahl in November.

On July 19, Eckhardt flew from Salt Lake City to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport and said he found the iPad in a magazine holder onboard his plane and tried to turn it over to a flight attendant, who refused to take it.

The three female flight attendants on the flight said during interviews with Gilbert police they did not remember a man who identified himself as a police officer attempting to return an iPad.

However, Eckhardt, who said he frequently travels, said flight attendants deal with so many passengers on their flights it would not be unusual for them not to remember an individual passenger.

While unpacking after his trip, Eckhardt said he showed the electronic device to his wife, who identified it as an iPad.

Eckhardt said during his investigation he planned to take the iPad to an Apple store or another electronics retailer on July 22 to see if the device could be traced to his owner.

The father, Brad Carter, signed a notarized statement on Aug. 20 requesting that Eckhardt be prosecuted.

In an Aug. 8 email to MPD Sgt. Stephen Judd, Carter said he and his wife, Shauna, both said they wanted Eckhardt prosecuted.

Carter said the incident was upsetting to his daughter, who accidentally left the iPad and a set of Pioneer headphones at a Starbucks at the airport concourse. Airport security footage confirms Carter and his two children left Starbucks without the iPad in the girl’s possession and that Carter ran back to the Starbucks several minutes later to retrieve the device, according to Salt Lake City police.

However, airport security cameras do not show who picked up the iPad at Starbucks and how it got onboard the aircraft to Phoenix, according to MPD documents.

On July 21, Carter told Salt Lake City authorities he was able to track the iPad using an application called “find my iPad” and it was showing the device at a location in the 44000 block of West Adode Circle in Maricopa. Eckhardt lives in that area, according to the Pinal County Assessor’s Office.