Stupid Criminals: Posting Vacation & Shopping Pictures Of Yourself On Facebook While A Fugitive

Stupidity

from the stupid-is-as-stupid-does dept

There must be some heavy metals in the water wherever criminals grow up, because they do some really stupid things. Recall the young mastermind who allegedly committed a drunken hit and run and then posted about it on Facebook. Or the bank-robbing vixen who somehow thought making a YouTube video bragging about her crimes was a great idea. It's a strange kind of dichotomy for law enforcement agencies that at once catch these dummies using internet services and websites while also decrying Craigslist as some kind of enabler, rather than a holding pen for future convicts. The point is that criminals, by and large, are stupid, and if you give them just enough bandwidth-cord, they'll inevitably hang themselves with it.

Such is the case with the latest entrant into the “Hey, Come Arrest Me” sweepstakes, a purported gang member who robbed a man of thousands in jewelry on camera in the UK, jumped a flight to South America to return to his native Columbia (no extradition treaty with the UK), following a brief vacation in Brazil, and then returned to the UK to upload pictures of himself Christmas shopping.

Charles Rodriguez, 31, is a Colombian man who police believe is a member of the crime gang the Latin Kings. In October 2011, along with another man, he allegedly beat a jeweler who had been returning from a sales trip.

“Rodriguez's arrogance was astonishing. After committing an appalling attack on a jewellery trader, he fled the country to his native Colombia where he knew he could not be extradited,” Detective Sergeant Roger Smethurst said in a statement. “However, his lack of remorse was evident by the fact he brazenly posted sightseeing pictures from Brazil – at a time when he was on the run – on his Facebook page.”

Manchester police were following along the entire way, ostensibly “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” at what I'm sure were the beautiful sights of Brazil. Perhaps they even placed wagers on what Rodriguez would buy his grandchildren. I don't know. What I do know is that they continued following him on his digital sight-seeing picture-show in the hopes that eventually Rodriguez would do something monumentally stupid.

Rodriguez, it would appear, is not the kind of man who disappoints.

In 2012 he reentered the U.K. with a false passport. He even posted photos of himself Christmas shopping and sightseeing around London. Rodriguez was stopped by London police for driving suspiciously. Though he faked his name, fingerprinting revealed his identity.
“Rodriguez must have thought he was above the law and untouchable because even when he finally returned to the UK, knowing he was still wanted, he still posted pictures of himself Christmas shopping in London on his Facebook page,” Smethurst said.

He has since pled guilty to robbery and has been ordered to serve more than five years in prison. So raise your glasses of Newcastle Brown to Mr. Rodriguez. If the police have any sense of humor at all, they'll allow him to Facebook check-in to prison.

Filed Under: criminals, self-incrimination, social media, stupidity