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Say Cheese Laptop Thieves: Camera Foils Crooks
By
John Del Signore
Published May 9, 2008
Modified May 9, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 9, 2008
Modified May 9, 2008
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A Westchester woman who had her laptop stolen didn’t even bother with old fashioned signs like the one pictured here – instead she remotely used the camera in her computer to photograph the culprits. The laptop was stolen from her apartment on April 27th along with $5,000 worth of other electronics.
The Journal News has it that the unnamed woman got a call from a friend on Tuesday asking her if she was online; she wasn’t, but her stolen computer was. So the victim signed onto another computer and used the "Back to My Mac" program to confirm that it was in fact her stolen laptop being used to surf the Web.
She was then able to use the stolen computer's camera to photograph the suspects, two Bronx residents in their ‘20s. She didn’t recognize the men, but her roommate did – they had attended a party at the apartment a few weeks before the burglary. White Plains police later arrested the duo, recovering most the stolen goods and generating another useful plot device for Law & Order screenwriters.
Photo courtesy Bahi P
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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