MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota man is in jail because he logged on to Facebook — during his alleged crime.
Police say Nicholas Wig checked his profile from a home he broke into — then didn’t log off.
“When I came home from work that day, that screen was laying right here,” homeowner James Wood. “Credit cards, cash, for a soccer tournament, checkbook, watch. Kinda started to panic.”
Wood notified police, but then noticed something on his computer.
“He uh, HA!!! He pulled up his Facebook profile and left it up,” Wood said.
Police say Nicholas Wig, 26, had checked Facebook while stealing from the house and forgot to log out. So Wood updated Wig’s status.
“I shared his photo and said watch out for this guy he’s a thief,” Wood said.
People kept commenting on that post. Wood also left his phone number asking anyone to call with information on where to find Wig.
Wood received a text at 7 p.m. From Wig himself.
“I replied you left a few things at my house last night how can I get them back to you,” Wood said.
Wig agreed to meet with Wood under the impression he could give back Wood’s recycled cellphone in exchange for his clothes he had left at the home.
“World’s dumbest criminals,” Wood said.
When Wood spotted him heading toward the house, he called police.
“I’ve never seen this before,” Dakota County attorney James Backstrom said.
Backstrom is thankful Wig was caught but even he is baffled by Wig’s decision to log onto Facebook.
“It’s a pretty unusual case. (It) might even make the late night television shows in terms of not being too bright,” Backstrom said. “If he wouldn’t have done the Facebook thing, we wouldn’t have caught him.”
Wig has an extensive criminal history, including a second-degree burglary conviction from 2008, a domestic assault misdemeanor and pending drug charges.
He could face up to 10 years in prison an $20,000 in fines if convicted of the most recent charges.