Can't find iPhone 4 Verizon MEID/ESN?

My friend broke his verizon 8gb iphone 4, so he gave it to me and he got a new one and transferred his number. I finally got the iphone up and running, but it says searching under where the signal bars should be. When i go to settings>about, there isn't an MEID or ESN #. Its strange because that's where it should be. Also when i connect it to itunes it doesn't show the phone number or meid. Any ideas what is the problem here, or how i can find the esn?

There's a possibility that the breakage is due to tampering with the MEID. The other places to find the MEID would be on the contract the phone was on (if applicable), and on a label on the lower half of the back cover for the phone box.