According to the Abingdon Police Department of Abingdon, VA, officers monitored 34-year-old Joshua Derek Brown’s social media accounts in an effort to locate the fugitive. Brown had been approached by an officer on Sunday, March 27th, 2016 in response to a drinking in public call. When the officer ran Brown’s name for outstanding warrants (which had proven to be the case), he took off on foot and had been evading police ever since.
In a brazen attempt to taunt police (or simply just an act of pure stupidity), he decided to actively post photos on his social media accounts from the Abingdon, VA area, as well as boast about his ability to elude capture. Much to Brown’s demise, he posted a photo showing him seated in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with a unique set of stripes on the hood.
Abingdon Police Investigators were able to locate the exact vehicle from Brown’s social media posts and began surveillance in the immediate surrounding area. According to the news report, “detectives say they observed a white male, who matched the description of the fugitive Joshua Brown exit a residence in the 800 block of Edgemont North Street.”
Officers approached Brown and he was taken into custody without incident. He is being held in Southwest Virginia Regional Jail for his outstanding warrant out of Russell County, VA and a warrant for the Obstruction of Justice incident on March 27th, 2016.
Whether people are completely unaware that investigators have the ability to monitor their social media accounts, or they really just don’t care and think they are invincible, these stories usually make for amusing examples of the information we can derive from the World Wide Web!