Alleged Purse Thief Posts Photo of Himself to Victim’s Facebook

This man is suspected of stealing a Georgia woman's purse and phone, and accidentally uploading photos of himself to the woman's Facebook profile.

A Georgia woman whose purse and cellphone were stolen from her car was surprised when a picture of the suspect showed up on her Facebook page.

The picture depicted a man with braids and gold teeth, who looked exactly like the man she’d seen near her vehicle before the theft.

Police in Henry County, Ga., said they now believe the thief grabbed her cellphone, took a picture of himself and unwittingly uploaded it to her Facebook page, which automatically synced with her phone.

“What we believe occurred is that this person, who potentially stole the phone, was attempting to place a photo of himself on his Facebook page, but the phone was set up to upload to hers. We don’t know for sure, but he meets the description [of the suspect],” Maj. Jason Bolton of the Henry County police said.

The woman was picking her son up from a day care center Sept. 26 when the crime occurred, he said. She parked her car and, despite noticing a black Toyota Rav 4 nearby with someone in the vehicle, went into the day care center and left her car unlocked. When she returned with the child and drove home, she realized her purse was missing. Inside the purse were credit cards, a checkbook and the phone, Bolton said.

The next day, a friend of the woman called her and told her to check her Facebook page because there was a “strange man’s picture” on it. The woman pulled up the website on her computer, saw the picture and called the police.

“We’ve used Facebook in the past to solve some cases, or help get warrants, but never have we seen a case like this where the potential suspect provided his own picture to us to use in the investigation,” Bolton said.

The picture has been disseminated widely and police hope someone will point them in the right direction.