One week ago we told you about a Craigslist iPhone buy gone sideways: The victim met with a man who advertised an iPhone for $500 on Craigslist.

Only when he showed up he saw a gun instead. And his $500 bought a scary lesson.

But the law didn't sleep on this case, however minor it was, cash-wise. And two people were arrested over the weekend:

Daniel So, 19, and Garrett Helstrom, 20.

Sheriff's investigators somehow trained their resources on So, and the Sheriff's Asian Gang Team ended up staking out his South Pasadena house Friday night.

When so and Helstrom got into a vehicle and rolled off, they got pulled over.

Inside the car was a fake semi-automatic handgun and “suspected stolen property,” according to sheriff's Sgt. Steve Kim.


View Larger Map

The robbery happened about 3 p.m. Feb. 19 at a Carl's Jr. parking lot in the 9400 block of Las Tunas Drive in Temple City, where the victim had agreed to meet the suspect after contacting him about the iPhone ad, Kim stated.

Craigslist is awash with used iPhones, ostensibly put up for sale by folks who have upgraded.

Why would you pay $500 for an iPhone when you can get a 3GS for as little as $49 with a two-year contract? Dunno. Maybe the victim wanted to “jailbreak” it and go with a cheaper wireless provider.

Many people do. In this case we'd say it probably wasn't worth it.

Sheriff's officials advise using extra caution when buying big-ticket items via sites like CL: Bring a friend. Meet in busy, public places. Leave if something doesn't feel right. And give robbers what they want if it comes to that.

So and Helstrom were arrested in connection with the robbery and were each being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Sheriff's investigators say Helstrom allegedly helped So with the caper; exactly how was not revealed.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.