I was talking to one of the local RCMP members at provincial court the other day about a pair of guys who shot a bar owner in one town then crashed their getaway vehicle into a business in a nearby town and were subsequently arrested.
“Fortunately, most criminals aren’t too smart,” the officer said.
Yes, it is time for another installment of “Mastermind Criminals.” This week: the social media edition.
For one Levi Charles Reardon of Cascade Country, Montana, it seems becoming smitten with his own notoriety was his undoing.
The 23-year-old was wanted on felony forgery charges and his mugshot was posted on the local Crimestoppers Facebook Page. The criminal genius ‘liked’ the Crimestoppers post and was subsequently arrested.
A perusal of the case against Reardon backs up the conclusion he is not the brightest bulb in the shed. The warrant related to a stolen wallet and personal cheques. Once again demonstrating his criminal brilliance, Reardon had made out four of the cheques to himself, prompting police to interview him as a potential victim of fraud.
The investigation went a different direction after that.
Of course, Reardon was not the first mastermind to be hoisted by his own ill-advised use of social media.
About a year ago, Baltimore, Maryland police posted a photo of Roger Ray Ireland, who was wanted for parole violations, on its Facebook page asking for tips on the suspect’s whereabouts.
Ireland himself responded taunting the police with a thoroughly illiterate posting that read: “LMAO all u cowards telling [expletive] can’t catch me with these [expletive] help Yall will never catch me.”
Needless to say, he was wrong. In fact, it was the very next day police were able to pick him up based on a plethora of tips generated by the fugitive’s mocking response.
Remember the movie Good Fellas? After the gang robs the Lufthansa cargo flight, Robert Deniro’s character tells the guys to lay low, not spend any money until the heat dies down. Of course, they all show up for the Christmas party sporting flashy clothes and jewellery and cars.
It would seem to me that keeping a low profile after a heist is How to be a Successful Criminal 101. Not for 27-year-old Danielle Saxton, apparently. Almost immediately after lifting a very distinctive multi-coloured leopard-print maternity dress from a West Frankfurt, Illinois boutique, Saxton posted a selfie on Facebook of herself wearing the dress.
The boutique had already put the word out on its Facebook page and almost before the bells had stopped tinkling on, police were knocking on Saxton’s door. She was also the subject of an outstanding warrant on drug charges.
Perhaps the all-time champion of social media criminal dumbassery, however, was 19-year-old Depree Johnson.
In December 2013, Johnson posted a slew of pictures of himself on Instagram holding cash, weapons, drugs and other allegedly stolen items.
This genius was already a convicted felon for crimes such as burglary, felony possession of a firearm and grand theft so it was not long before a vigilant Sheriff’s deputy spotted the reckless Instagram post, obtained a warrant and arrested Johnson. In addition to stolen guns and ammunition, police discovered stolen electronics and jewellery in the house worth more than $250,000 related to 30 to 40 burglaries in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. He was charged with 142 counts of being a felon in possession of firearms, ammo and stolen goods.
There is a moral to this story, but I am betting even if I explicitly named it, it would go right over the heads of criminal geniuses of the ilk described in this column.
