Fugitive’s Facebook habit leads to arrest
Some people are good at being fugitives from the police. They stay at home, go out in disguise or even create a new identity. Others are not so successful.
Take the case of Maxi Sopo, a 26-year-old criminal who was hiding in Mexico from th e US police. His first big mistake was to use his Facebook page to tell his friends about the fun he was h aving. In regular updates on Facebook, Sopo said he was ‘living in paradise’ in Mexico and “loving it”.
Sopo, who arrived in the US from Cameroon in 2003, made money by selling roses in Seattle night clubs. Then he moved on to bank fraud. But he soon learnt that police were investigating him and drove a rented car to Mexico in February.
Investigators looked at social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace but they could find no sign of him at first and couldn’t see his location in Mexico.
Several months later, a secret service agent checked Facebook again and suddenly found Maxi Sopo. His photo showed him partying in front of a backdrop with BMW and Courvoiser cognac logos on it.
Although Sopo’s profile was private, his list of friends was not. Assistant US Attorney, Michale Scoville, who helped to find Sopo, began to look through the list. He was surprised that one friend was linked to the Mexican justice department. Scoville immediately sent a messa
ge to the man.
“We figured this was a person we could probably trust to keep our inquiry discreet, “ Scoville said.
The official told Scoville he had met Sopo in Cancun’s night clubs a few times. He learned where Sopo was living in Cancun and passed the information back to Scoville, who informed the Mexican police. They arrested Sopo last month.
If convicted of fraud, Sopo could go to prison for up to 30 years. Plenty of time to update a Facebook profile.
fugitive – szökevény
disguise – álca
bank fraud – banki csalás, szélhámosság
backdrop – háttérfüggöny
Decide if the questions are true or false:
Investigators immediately found Sopo on the Facebook.
A secret service agent found a photo of Sopo partying.
Sopo’s profile was accessible for everybody.
One of Sopo’s friends was connected to the US justice department.
The friend told the Assistant Attorney where Sopo was living.
Sopo might stay in jail for a long time.
