The strategy of using social media as a tool to solve crimes is beginning to pay off. A 31-year old Colombian jewelry thief named Charles Rodriguez was recently captured by British authorities after posting photos of him on Facebook. Rodriguez, a member of a London-based crime syndicate called “Latin Kings,” was wanted by police after robbing a diamond trader in Salford in October 2011.
Rodriguez got away with the crime last year by leaving U.K. using a false passport. Although he got away with diamonds and pearls worth more than £80,000, Rodriguez left an online trail by posting photos of himself vacationing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. British authorities were not able to capture Rodriguez because Columbia, his home country, doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the U.K.
The chase was about to go cold when Rodriguez, for some reason, returned to the U.K. and once again posted photos of himself shopping in London on Facebook. The police caught wind of it immediately and he was eventually caught. Police said that Rodriguez’s arrogance is “astonishing.”
Filed in . Read more about Facebook.