Burglar caught after cops post footage on Facebook

[January 15, 2009]  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Police in New Zealand nabbed a burglar after posting security camera footage of him trying to crack a bar's safe on the Internet networking site Facebook.

Police said it was New Zealand's first such Facebook arrest and said they would use the site again to fight crime, as law enforcement officials and lawyers increasingly turn to online networks for purposes other than their original ones to provide social interaction.

"Facebook was very, very handy, and it's a good little tool," Senior Sgt. John Fookes of Queenstown police told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The burglar, wearing a face-covering balaclava and carrying a bag of tools, broke into a tiny storage room inside the Franklin Tavern in the tourist town of Queenstown early Monday and tried to cut into a safe containing $12,000 (NZ20,000) in takings from gambling machines.

After nearly an hour in the cramped space, the burglar removed his balaclava and gloves and looked around -- red-faced from fruitless toil. As he left, the video shows the man suddenly spotting the lens of the security camera that was recording his every move.

"He looks around and sees it and there's just a shocked look of 'gutted,' said tavern assistant manager Mel Kelly. "His face definitely drops."

Officers posted the footage on the Queenstown police Facebook page and identification was "very, very quick; overnight, we had a number of responses" from the public, Fookes said. "If we've got something that the public can help us with then we'll certainly be putting it on Facebook."

The man was charged with two counts of burglary and was due to appear in court on Jan. 26.

A court in Australia last month approved a mortgage lender's application to use Facebook to serve legal documents on a couple who had defaulted on their payments. The previous month, a restaurateur in the Australian city of Melbourne reportedly used Facebook to track down a group who racked up a large bill then fled without paying.

[Associated Press; By RAY LILLEY]

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