Facebook led police to a burglary suspect in Dakota County, Minnesota. Authorities arrested Nicholas Wig, 26, for breaking into a man’s home and stealing a credit card, cash, watch, checkbook, and keys. “His undoing, they said, was that he logged into his Facebook account on homeowner James Wood’s computer and forgot to log out,” ABC News reports.
Wood discovered a strange Facebook account, “Nick Dub,” still logged onto his computer, along with other signs of a recent break-in — including an unlocked door and a missing window screen. Later that same day, Wood identified the man walking along the street. He recognized him from his Facebook photos. Police arrested Wig and matched the watch the suspect he was wearing to the one stolen from Wood’s home.
Authorities charged Wig “with burglary in the second degree, a felony,” according to ABC. If he is found guilty, he may serve up to 10 years in jail and pay $20,000 in fines. ABC continues, “Wig’s bail was set at $25,000 without conditions and $12,000 with conditions of release, which include no contact with the victim and no alcohol or controlled substance use.” Wig will go to court on July 15.
“It would be easy to use this man’s string of bad choices to condemn our society’s reliance on Social Media, but we would be missing the point,” says Jeremy at Suburban Marketing. “This man wasn’t undone by Social Media. His problems started long before Facebook came along.”