Inebriated crooks leave behind digital snapshots of themselves
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 18th 2007 6:45PM
posted Mar 18th 2007 6:45PM
It's one thing to lose track of all the peripherals you need to gank whilst stealing a gaming console, but to leave behind digital snapshots of yourself at a crime scene is on an entirely different level of dumb. In a case filled with Darwin award nominees, a team of self-incriminating thieves managed to break into private property and jack about "$5,000 worth of expensive alcohol, including $800 bottles of wine and high-dollar scotch," only to forget a digital camera filled with photos of the party in progress. Interestingly, game designer Richard Garriott (Ultima Online, anyone?) actually owns the property, and has stated that he'll probably install a swank video surveillance / security system to prevent such an annoyance from happening again. But if you've been wondering how to make a quick buck in order to snag a few new pieces of kit flowing out of CeBIT, Texas police are offering "up to $1,000 in reward money" for leading investigators to the less-than-intelligent criminals.[Via Fark]
Damn, his moat dident stop them? I wouldent enter Lord Brittishe's house for fear of his Uzi alone!
MOM?!?!?!
They all died or mutilated themselves sufficiently to hinder reproduction? Sweet!
He couldnt keep UO from being hacked...and apparently his store too ;P
Not fit for a Darwin Award unless the penalty for this crime is death... which seems rather unlikely.
I haven't read origin of species and other Darwin works, but my impression was always that it was about survival through diversity, rather than this idea that some drunk teens who left a camera behind should die, as if the world had some direct message about correct behavior.
It's interesting how Engadget is always promoting "lawlessness" (you know, infringing on other people's requests, like DRM) and lush lifestyles, yet posts this as if there were a message. I guess its the lifestyles of the rich and famous fluff they feel they can publish for those almighty clicks.
http://www.answers.com/dumb
Very thoughtful tag.
By the way, glad to see "Lord British" in the news again.
You may have over looked what I call, "Stupid American Police"
Yes, its funny that they left the camera behind and incriminated themselves.
Hey.... but wait, there is still a $1000 for identifying them. So basically if they have a loyal amount of friends or are just loners who lay low for a while they could still get away with it regardless of being stupid enough to leave pix behind.
1. Take pictures of people you hate drinking and carousing.
2. Leave the camera at a crime scene.
3. Profit!
I was thinking the same thing. They have the pictures of these idiots, yet are offering a grand to identify them?
Some police work.
Perhaps you are a naive twit, who assumes the police have some magical technology where they can just haul whomever in based on a picture.
And perhaps instead of being a complete douchebag, you might think for a minute and realize that perhaps I meant that maybe the police should do some honest-to-god walking around and INVESTIGATION instead of just offering a grand up for grabs.
But go ahead and call me a twit if it makes you feel better, ass.
Yes, the police have some important business to address there, what with Lord British getting broken into and all, well, some of, his expensive booze being stolen. That's a great use of public resources, because you know this investigation is going to cost the public $10k according to your priorities.
ass
I have no knowledge of police finances, but if it costs $10k, shoot, I'll do it. Not to mention there are other ways around it - fingerprints on the camera, the camera's serial number.
Funny that you jump on me, and not Ben in the UK. Props on using the word "twit" though. You keep that one in your arsenal for another day. Guess you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
"I have no knowledge of police finances"
Nor do you have any knowledge of police work.
Perhaps Mike and Ben should do a bit of research on police work and maybe they will then understand that crimes like murder, rape, assault and other violent crimes take priority on the departments resources.
Also to clue you in, offering a $1,000 reward IS good police work. This isn't an episode of CSI where they are going to have a forensics team go over the place with a fine toothed comb. An awful lot of criminals are caught because people they know turn them in for a reward. It is why the reward system has been in place for at least the last two hundred years.
Yah a fancy photo apprehension machine would be cool.. But if we had precogs we could have caught them before they did it.
@Matt and k0a10
It would cost them a lot more to go door to door with a picture asking "Do you know this boy??"... I mean "Do you know anyone in this picture?" This way I'm sure the local news will be putting this pic up free and everyone and their dog will see it in a much shorter time frame and LESS EXPENSIVE.
If your house was broken into and your stuff was stolen, you would feel a lot different about it. effen trolls.
Actually, my house was broken into and my stuff was stolen. It was probably some drug addicts who did it. The police dutifully dusted everything but the odds of apprehending anyone are pretty low, and they aren't going to spend much effort.
It's true I shouldn't have used the word "twit," but it's quite comical that anyone believes that a photo or fingerprints really means that much unless it is a serious case where the perpetrators would have that info on file, and it's worth the effort to track it down. This was probably just some local kids having a hoot. Who knows, maybe Lord British didn't lock his door.
My point was, why does enGADGET clutter the site up with this kind of fluff, but it's all about the ad clicks.
When blacks or other minorities do the same and get "pawnt" you eagerly join in with the belittling.
But when Caucasians do idiotic things, posters on here start arguing the semantics of the article. How pathetic! "No they're not worthy of the Darwin award because blah blah blah."
I do?
When the Blacks or Hispanics do it, they often times screw it up, taking themselves out of the gene pool.
Darwin was the "inventor" (for lack of a better term) of Evolution. He prided himself on researching gene pools. When people end up killing themselves, or dismembering their member, they are then nominated for a Darwin award because they are no longer in the gene pool.
Please, stop playing the Race card. By doing so, you are being just as racist as the ones you accuse, because "only white people can be racist."
Or perhaps they were framed?
Have we seen all the pictures? Were they definitely taken at the crime scene? Lots of stuff we don't know here and yet everyone is judge, jury, and executioner.
And,k0a10 is correct, what is this story doing on Engadget?
SH
Read the linking article. The photos themselves were pictures of the people inside the house that was broken into. So yes, we definitely know that those pictures were taken at the crime scene. Since the owner did not invite them in they were guilty of trespassing in the least and B&E and theft at the worst.