NEWS: Dumbass Steals Car, Gets Caught by Car Forum Members

GEEK: Dumbass Steals Car, Gets Caught by Car Forum Members

From Slashdot’s crowdsourcing-justince department comes the heartwarming tale of a stolen car, the idiots who stole it, and a posse of car enthusiast-slash-forum-posters turned detectives who tracked the orchestrator of the act down and got him arrested.

The car did not come back. As Mr. Ironside put it, it went for a “permanent test drive.” He quickly posted a plea for help at Beyond.ca, where in a matter of days, a forum member was able to capture a picture of the suspect, inside the car, displaying the hand disfigurement that unquestionably identified him.

Soon after, another member spotted the suspect driving the car and tailed him, locating the moron’s home. The picture mentioned earlier was used to track down his Facebook page. Forum members eventually drove to the suspect’s home, blockaded the road with their vehicles. The owner of the car joined them and called the police, who responded in minutes. Someone had the presence of mind to video-tape the arrest:



”…you want to go on a test drive? How’s the car?” the man behind the camera asks - absolutely priceless. Jamie “The Claw” Jacobson (nickname given to him by forum members), 18 years old, now faces charges of theft over $5,000 and a court date on April 16th.

His friend in the car lost his hat to an eBay auction. No word on criminal charges for the Yankee's fan, or whether or not he was arrested.

The hat was found after the car was searched, along with receipts from a car wash and a 4-liter jug of oil. I guess Jamie-boy thought he was going to keep his new wheels.

Some are arguing the vigilante-esq tactics of the individuals who were instrumental in catching the thief. Should they have left the police work to the police or gone through with their efforts that ultimately landed Bozo in jail?

punk has been witness to the recovery of at least two vehicles via the efforts of VW Vortex members here in Arizona.

You can view the original call for help and the events that followed in the original forum post, here

You can't hide from the internet.

Wow. It's vigilante justice done right. If only it could always be this way.

vigilante? they called the cops when they needed to, it's not like they tried to make the arrest. I would have said they were vigilantes if they made a decisive move to try to capture the said dumb-ass car thief, but all they did was barricade a road and call the cops.

Exactly. That's part of the argument: the misuse of the word 'vigilante.' In my opinion, they did what any respectable person should do.

I want to know what happened to Claw's friend.

The issue I'm finding with this is all the posting of information about this guy, freely on the net.

"Innocent till proven guilty".

There's been some chatter that possibly this guy was dupied by whom ever stole it.

Or yes, this is the guy that stole it.

Either way, while I applaud that they did call the cops.

Boo on them thinking it's funny to post videos of this guy being arrested, and posting all of his information around.

You don't see cops letting you go through their files, and these guys should have had the same sense of mind.

Get the evidence, call the cops, turn it ALL over to them, and let them handle it.

Don't parade around like a bunch of fresh roosters.

I don't see a problem with the videos - they're pretty funny, to boot.

To be fair, it's relatively easy to identify someone once their full name, picture, and city of residence have been reported by the news.

the kid should just be glad he didn't steal the car from the other ironside.

Pretty much agree in theory. If someone did it to me though, I doubt I'd feel the same way. I dispise people who have no respect for my stuff. I'd welcome that kind of information finding, it worked great.

I'm only uneasy over the potential for abuse. Imagine if this guy was innocent, that'd totally suck for him. In this scenario, it's not likely at all. But change a few factors and it could have ended badly.

Personally, I think the video's a bit much, even assuming he's guilty. I guess I just don't like gloating assholes, no matter how in the right they might be.

awww, poor criminal. can't stand a little ridicule and exposure.

*applauds them*

Well, that's the point, isn't it? He's not a criminal until the facts have been sorted out--and I don't mean on the internet--and he either confesses or is found guilty after a legal process. It's slow, but the opposite of this is called "fascism."

I do applaud the actions of these "fresh roosters," however, right up to the point where they acted like fresh roosters.

"fascism"? way to jump the gun and exaggerate.

That was fast.

Thanks for coming out, everybody! Good night!!!

on the next episode of "godwin'd"...

Ok so now what? Anybody feel like a beer?

Sounds good to me. Hey, anyone know when Lost is coming back on the air?

No, someone is a criminal the moment they commit a crime. They are presumed innocent in the legal system until the facts have been sorted out and he has been found guilty through a standard legal process. As observers we don't have to suspend judgment until a trial has taken place (unless we plan to serve on the jury).

It's not "fascism" unless the court system presumes him guilty before the legal process. That issue, however, is independent of what people removed from the jury and court say or believe.

By the way, if you want to throw around the label "fascist" I should point out that a prostrate public/civil society - one that is unable/forbidden to form or voice opinions until the government (or its branches) has told them what to think - is an attribute of a fascist society.

Depends on what kind of beer. Don't make the offer and then hand us a Bud Lite or something. Only fascists and fresh roosters do that.

Actually I was hoping someone would buy me a beer. I'm a true fascist/fresh rooster like that.

Does anybody care?

It's like you're a Nazi or something.

I'm just like Hitler, except he didn't drink.

so. you've got teh syphilis and it's slowly driving you insane?