On Saturday, March 7, 2015 the resident reported movies that were viewed on her Netflix accounts that were not watched by anyone in their household. The resident informed Mariposa County Sheriff Deputies that both the TV and the Blu-ray were linked to her Netflix account. The resident was able to contact Netflix and retrieve the numbered IP address of the Wi-Fi unit used to access the internet and Netflix.
According to whatismyipaddress.com an "IP" stands for Internet Protocol. IP addresses allow the location of literally billions of digital devices that are connected to the Internet to be pinpointed and differentiated from other devices. In the same sense that someone needs your mailing address to send you a letter, a remote computer needs your IP address to communicate with your computer.
A search warrant was issued to the provider of the internet service, in order to obtain the name and address of the IP holder. As a result of the information received from the provider a secondary search warrant was issued for a home in Mariposa. A search of that home did not turn up any of the stolen items. During an interview with the resident at that home the resident informed Deputies they regularly allow neighbors to use their Wi-Fi. With that new information an addendum to the search warrant was made to include the residence of the neighbor, Bobby Alexander,20, of Mariposa.
No one answered the door when Deputies knocked at the Alexander home, K9 Arthur and his partner cleared the home. Once inside Deputies located the stolen property. A few hours later Bobby Alexander of Mariposa turned himself into the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office. He was arrested on charges of 459 PC Burglary.
He is currently being held on $75,000 bail.
Source: MCSD