burglary

Police: Pembroke man ran craigslist clearinghouse for burglars:

Our favorite joint police task force, the W.E.B. Major Crimes and Drug Task Force, has struck again and this time it’s not for prostitution.

28-year-old Benjamin M. Stone of Pembroke, Mass had his house raided by the W.E.B. Task Force. It turns out that Mr. Stone is an alleged fence who would buy and sell stolen items. He was tripped up when one of his customers tried to sell some equipment he got from Stone on craigslist. The seller than dimed out Stone.

Also arrested were John Sullivan, 30, and John Pennio, 24, for receiving stolen goods.

I wonder what would happen if craigslist users weren’t allowed almost unlimited anonymity? Hmmmm.

NIAGARA FALLS: Another cautionary Internet tale:

18-year-old Christopher P. Klem of Buffalo, New York has been arrested on charges of burglary and arson. Klem contacted a man on craigslist who was selling a computer and through communication with the victim was able to determine when the victim wasn’t home.

Klem allegedly broke into the Niagara Falls home stole $25K in electronics then started a fire to cover up the crime.

Klem tried selling the goods at a Gamestop in Buffalo but the victim works at a different Gamestop and had alerted area stores to be on the lookout for the items.

D’oh!

Couple Nabs Thief Who Stole Their Electronics:
Convicted thief Michael Griffin broke into the home of Annie and David Warner of Ohio Sunday night. Griffin allegedly stole a slew of electronics from the Warners. One of those items was a GPS unit.

After calling police, David Warner got an idea and searched local websites, including ebay and craigslist… finding lo and behold a gps just like his missing one, in a new posting on craigslist.

Long story short David Warner set up a meeting with the seller and happened to bring the police along with him.

Michael Griffin had cleared all of the information out of the gps unit, that might have helped Warner identify his personal property… but what Griffin didn’t know is this gps also has a function that allows you to save photographs. Much to Griffin’s dismay and the police officer’s surprise… the first photo that came up… was the smiling Warners.

D’oh!

Griffin is in jail on $50K bond.