'Alexa' Didn't Answer: Newport Man's Contractor Swiped His 'Echo'

NEWPORT, RI—Nkwame Foster, 35, of Dennis Port, Mass., was charged on Tuesday with misdemeanor Larceny (under $1,500) after an Amazon Echo went missing from a Simmons Street home. According to the police narrative, back on April 3, the homeowner called to report a past breaking and entering at the home, which was being renovated. The resident told police he and his wife were spending time at another home during the construction work, but he went back to the Newport house periodically to check the property. Some of the couple's clothes, jewelry and other possessions were still inside the Newport house, he said.

This time, he discovered some items were missing, including an Amazon Echo, which he had left near a window sill. He walked into the house and called "Alexa" to activate his Amazon Echo.

And Alexa didn't reply.

He looked around and discovered the Echo was no longer on the window sill. He looked through the house and could not find the device. Then he called police. Police initially wanted to question the construction crew about the missing item, but the man asked police to wait. The crew work for his father-in-law, he said, and he did not think they would steal anything.

Initially, the man also thought some jewelry had been taken. His wife was consulted, and it turned out the Echo was the only thing missing. Police took down the serial number and investigated. The Echo was originally owned by the Newport couple but in April, it was registered to a woman in Dennis Port, Mass. The woman, police learned, is Foster's wife.

Police interviewed her. She said her husband brought the Echo home from work in April.

Foster told police he had been hired to "demo" the house and thought everything in the building was going into a dumpster. The Echo was "dirty and dusty," he told police. Police allege he told them he took it home to see if it still worked and kept it.

He was given a summons for Newport District Court on June 6.