iPod thief, owner exchange testy text messages

A man who had his iPod stolen at a Post Falls gym a month ago began communicating with the thief Friday using text messages.

According to a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office incident report, the man said he was unable to locate the iPod after his workout and initially thought someone had accidentally picked it up.

However, on Friday the man began texting the iPod in an effort to get the device back. Text messages can be received on iPods using a variety of free applications and a wireless internet connection. These advertisement supported applications assign the iPod a "phone number" and allow users to send text messages to most major cellular carriers.

According to the report, he received a text back from the thief, which said "who is this."

The texts continued, with the thief telling the man he was going to keep the iPod and demanding the man's name. When the man refused to give his name to the thief, the culprit became agitated.

"Listen, you better back off and stop pestering me," the text said, according to the report. "I don't take this kindly. The last person that did this ended up in the hospital."

Since the texts originated from the stolen iPod, there was no phone number associated, which prevented the deputy from continuing the investigation.

The man told the deputy that he did not feel threatened by the texts and simply wanted his iPod back.