The Apple logo is see on the company's retail store in downtown San Francisco
The Apple logo is seen on the company's retail store in downtown San Francisco, California. REUTERS

San Francisco police are denying reports that they have teamed up with Apple to find an iPhone 5 prototype lost by an employee.

A previous CNET report said the phone had been lost in a bar and that police investigators had traced it to a house in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. The house's resident denied knowing anything about it.

CNET reported that Apple had lost another iPhone prototype, just as it did with the iPhone 4 last year. It said the prototype was lost in a Mexican restaurant, Cava 22, and was being sold on Craiglist.

Apple employees even tried to bribe the individual into selling it back to them, according to a Business Insider report.