Saturday, March 08, 2014

Snapping 'n Sharing Selfies Snares Stupid Scoundrel

There's something to be said for the value of social media in assisting the law apprehending stupid criminals.

This is especially so when the stupid criminal's repeated Facebook postings led the cops right to his door.

The Detroit News: Brooklyn, N.Y., man arrested in 3 Michigan bank robberies after Facebook posting

On Thursday, an investigator learned from a Oakland County Sheriff’s sergeant that a Facebook page for Bahler showed pictures of him with what appeared to be the weapon and clothes matching those worn in the robberies.

Investigators determined Bahler appeared to be the same man in the surveillance photos, and the gun was the same brandished in the third crime, the complaint said.

The digital trail didn’t end there: his Facebook page also featured a picture of a house in Pontiac he claimed he had just bought.

On Friday, the FBI and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office staked out the address. When Bahler left in a vehicle, he was stopped. Inside a duffle bag at his feet was the black submachine gun, the criminal complaint said.

Bahler was arrested without incident and admitted to all three bank robberies; a search of his residence revealed some of the clothing worn, authorities said.

Looking at the photo, it appears Bahler used a semi-auto Uzi with a 16 inch barrel in his crimes:

This is not a submachine gun, and the barrel length is the big tip-off here.

Here's an example of a semi-auto Uzi:

Looks like a match as compared to a full auto variant:

Of course, he might have illegally converted it, which given how dumb he's acted to date is quite unlikely. He can take his picture and post it on Facebook, but I suspect obtaining a set of auto parts and then performing the serious machining and modification of the semi-auto to make them fit is beyond his ken. Be interesting to see what firearms charges, if any, get thrown at him in addition to the three bank robberies.

Well, his next Facebook selfie will be in a prison jumpsuit.

3 comments:

Six said...

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I love stupid criminals.

ProudHillbilly said...

Seems to me I've seen several reports of bag guys boasting of their exploits on social media and getting nailed as a result.

Aaron said...

Yep, I appreciate the combination of stupid criminals and social media making our law enforcement dollars go farther.