Burglar can't resist Facebook

[Vekseid]

Seriously...

MARTINSBURG - The popular online social networking site Facebook helped lead to an alleged burglar's arrest after he stopped check his account on the victim's computer, but forgot to log out before leaving the home with two diamond rings.

Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pa., was arraigned Tuesday one count of felony daytime burglary.

According to court records, Deputy P.D. Ware of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department responded on Aug. 28 to the victim's home after she reported the burglary.

She told police that someone had broken into her home through a bedroom window.

There were open cabinets in her garage, and other signs of a burglar.

The victim later noticed that the intruder also used her computer to check his Facebook status, and his account was still open when she checked the computer.

...

[Shiri]

I wonder if he updated his status to "I'm stealing from so-and-so's house." XD

[Nimmy]

DUDE. Seriously? How dumb can you be?

I wonder if he updated his status to "I'm stealing from so-and-so's house." XD

That would have been absolutely hilarious!

Now, kids, this is exactly what you shouldn't do with your Facebook account.

[Amberghylles]

Unless you set it up and only updated it from other people's computers...

*Ponders the notion of writing a story involving a tech savvy serial murder that advertises his crimes via a facebook account set up and accessed solely from the computers of his victims...*   

[Oniya]

I don't think it would've helped this guy, seeing as it had his name on the page.

[Amberghylles]

Oh I know.  He's an idiot. 

[OneOfAKiind]

Oh. My. Gawsh. ha ha ha this is ridiculous. reminds me of the day I left my computer in the living room and my boyfriend's roommates got on their FB on my computer while I was gone but left the screen up for when I got back...

but this is way worse. Some people just don't think. Sheer stupidity. I think it's funny that I'm commenting on the stupidity of facebooking on your victim's computer instead of the stupidity of stealing period. *giggle* zero morals

[HairyHeretic]

I have seen stupider.

A mate of mine told me a story from England, from a few years back, of a guy who pulled a robbery wearing a motorbike helmet to cover his face.

The only flaw in this plan was his name (or something equally recognisable) emblazoned across the front of the helmet.


The flip side to that story is the guy who decided he'd give the police no identifiably clothing to go on, so robbed a bank naked. The sight of a naked man running down the street carrying a bag of money obviously wouldn't raise any suspicions :)

[Sabby]

Then theres the guy who slapped a cream pie over his own face...

[HairyHeretic]

I have a copy of the Fortean Times Book of Inept Crime. I can probably produce hundreds of these stories :)

[Sabby]

I did see a good video of a store security camera where a guy in the standard baggy hood pants weighted for the clerk to open the register, then did a Penguin Punch... which meant him leaping up, sliding over the counter on his stomach, knocking the clerk out and landing in a pile on top of him... grabbed the registers money drawer and legged it.

[Oniya]

I saw one on World's Dumbest where a guy had taped bits of leafy branches to his head, and another one who had simply wrapped his head with duct tape instead of a ski mask.

[Jag]

I like the guy that decided that since he couldn't get the safe open inside the building, so he hooked it to his truck and dragged it down the street. >.<

[Myrleena]

And the minor fact that I happen to know that there is an entire department of our local Police that only goes through Facebook/Myspace.  But that was stupid.

And if you're interested...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_social_network_websites_in_investigations

[Inkidu]

Actually I'm more interested in why their law-enforcement agencies make the distinction between daytime and nighttime burglary. Does one levy a heavier charge than the other?

[Vekseid]

Not sure, but it may factor into profiling.

[Oniya]

A daytime burglar isn't thinking about the possibility of being seen entering the house, or may have a way to make it look normal.  There's also the likelihood of someone being home or not:  More people are likely to be home at night (such as home-invasion burglaries), but people are likely to be at work during the day.

[Monochromatic]

Oh man, that is hilarious!


I remember watching one of those "World Dumbest Criminals" things on spike. My favorite has always been the bank robber who kept "Pushing" on the "Pull" door and couldn't get out.

[Serephino]

That's pretty funny, but there's one stupid criminal story I will never forget.  These two guys decided to rob a bank.  The bank had revolving doors.  On their first attempt to enter the bank and rob it they got stuck in the revolving doors and a bank employee had to help them out.  They got all embarrassed and left without ever attempting the robbery.

What makes this story fricken hilarious is they went back a second time.  They got into the bank that time and they robbed it.  But they got stuck in the doors again on the way out. 

[HairyHeretic]

One of the more bizarre ones I remember is a guy who went to rob a bank, went in, wrote his note on the back of a slip, then chickened out and left.

A little later he decided to rob a different bank. He went in, presented his stick up note, and the teller told him they couldn't accept it because it was written on the back of another banks stationary, and he'd have to go rob them instead.

The robber was duly picked up a short time later, queueing in the original bank again.

[sinera]

True story - in the town where I went to college a guy robbed a 7-11 right after a snowstorm. The police just followed his footprints home...

[The Overlord]

About the dumbest dumb crook I’ve heard in a while. Maybe ‘I’ve been Facebooked’ will now be a catchphrase.

[Kaiten]

I love when they get stuck doing it. My favorite ones are a tie between the guy who got stuck in the ventilation shaft for a stove and had to get cut out by police, and the guy who broke into an office and fell on one of the cubicle walls. The police found him the next day straddling the wall and crying because of his crotch.

[sweets]

I love this one where a guy walks in, hands the teller a note then bam up pops their security wall. He runs to the door, throws himself into it, it doesn't open, he pushes again, nothing. At this point your realise in the clip (they back it up for you) that he PUSHED the door open when entering the bank. Then this little old lady walked up pushes the door open and walks into the bank and the guy just about takesher out when he runs out of the bank.