According to court documents, Ruby Johnson was watching television in a bathrobe, bonnet, and slipper when the police showed up in front of her house.
An armored vehicle with a German shepherd arrived at Ms. Johnson's house. The rear garage door of Ms. Johnson's home was damaged when officers used a battering ram on it.
Ms. Johnson was waiting in a police vehicle while officers searched for the goods. The police left after a while. They couldn't find anything in their search.
Ms. Johnson, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker who lives alone, filed a lawsuit last week accusing a detective of using inaccurate information from the Find My app to obtain a warrant. According to the suit, the mobile application helped him to believe that stolen goods were inside her home.
Mark Silverstein is a lawyer for Ms. Johnson and the legal director of the A.C.L.U of Colorado.
The detective didn't have enough facts to justify a search. His supervisor shouldn't have allowed it. It should not have been approved by the district attorney. The judge should not have given the go-ahead.
The Denver Police Department said in a statement on Monday that it had opened an internal investigation and that it was working with the Denver district attorney's office to create training for officers.
The Denver Police Department apologized to Ms. Johnson for any negative impacts the situation may have had on her.
Detective Staab didn't reply to a request for comment on Monday. He was not sure if he had a lawyer.
He was assigned to investigate a truck that had been reported stolen. The owner of the truck told the police that there were four semiautomatic handguns, a tactical military-style rifle, a revolver, two drones, $4,000 in cash and an iPad, according to the filing.
According to court documents, the owner of the truck told the detective that he had used the Find My app the day before to look for his lost phone.
Mr. McDaniel told Detective Staab that he rented a car but did not see his truck. Mr. McDaniel thought his truck could have been in the garage.
According to the legal terms of the Find My app, it was created to help Apple product owners locate lost items. The tool uses a combination of cellular, wi-fi and gps networks to estimate the location of a lost item.
If the item can't be pinpointed, the approximate location may be enough to identify one household or several buildings. Many users have reported success in finding lost items while others have said that the app was incorrect.
The developers of the Find My app didn't reply to a request for comment on Monday.
The lawsuit included a screen shot of the Find My app, but it did not include parts of other homes or streets.
The lawsuit said that there was no basis to believe that the phone was in Ms. Johnson's house.
Detective Staab obtained a search warrant after interviewing Mr.
According to the lawsuit, after the raid, Ms. Johnson had to leave her house and live with her daughter and son in Houston.
Ms. Johnson is considering moving as she is afraid to answer the door in her home.
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