Thief Loses Phone During Purse-Snatching, Gets Arrested After Calling Police to Ask for It Back
On Friday, a Newcastle Crown Court in England sentenced a 25-year-old man to two years and four months for a robbery he pled guilty to. His admission to committing the crime, however, was only part of how he helped officials throw him in jail.
Police in Sunderland, England, originally arrested the mugger after he called them with hopes of tracking down the phone he had lost during a recent purse-snatching.
After stealing a bag from a woman on the street one early morning in March, the man realized he dropped his phone sometime during the robbery. Later that night, he placed a call to police to inquire whether a cellphone had been recently turned in to officials. That phone call quickly led to his apprehension.
According to the Sunderland Echo, the 25-year-old criminal was, unsurprisingly, referred to as “stupid”, “incompetent” and “unsophisticated” during the trial.
“You dropped your mobile phone and in a rather unsophisticated act you telephoned the police and inquired if someone had handed it in,” a Newcastle Crown Court judge recapped for the defendant. “That is how you came to be arrested.”
Whether it’s by “liking” their own mug shot, or by posting Instagram pictures of illegal drugs, we’ve certainly heard of criminals laughing in the face of conventional wisdom to taunt cops on social media. But giving a ring to your local police station only hours after you’ve committed a robbery –– that’s a new one.
The Sunderland Echo report doesn’t include what the now-convicted young man’s ceremonial last phone call was before being taken to the slammer. But all the same, we’re pretty sure it’s going to be that second-to-last call that he’ll find himself thinking about over and over again, anyhow.
Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter at @danielwbean.
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