Last month, we wrote about a teenager who was arrested after bragging about a drunk driving crash on Facebook. His online apology for hitting someone’s car while driving drunk – a behavior which he described as “classic” – didn’t amount to a legally admissible confession. However, it didn’t take long for the post to be brought to the attention of local police, who were able to connect the teen’s car to two vehicles that had been damaged in a hit-and-run crash the previous evening.
Facebook has only been around since 2004. Therefore, it is understandable that not every user is aware of the dangers of over-sharing. However, deciding what to post online should at least go through the filter of basic common sense. In the short time that Facebook has been around, many individuals have been arrested for posting evidence of their own crimes including theft, vandalism, drug possession, DUI and other offenses.
Last year, for instance, a 20-year-old man from Kentucky was arrested for bragging online about his unique solution to high gas prices. He posted a picture of himself siphoning gas directly from a police car. It didn’t take too long for police to arrest him, and they had all the evidence they needed to convict him.
In May of 2012, an NYC police officer discovered that the easiest way to catch some criminals is to friend them on Facebook. In an attempt to solve a string of breaking and entering cases, the officer friended several teenagers who he knew to be members of a local gang. A total of 14 suspects were arrested after bragging to one another online about their crimes.
Please check back later this week as we share more stories of those who managed to orchestrate their own arrest by over-sharing on Facebook.
Source: The Daily Dot, “The 9 dumbest Facebook arrests,” Kevin Collier, Feb. 4, 2013