“A tech-savvy White Plains woman whose apartment was burglarized solved the crime herself after she was able to log on to her stolen laptop, photograph one of the suspects with it and get photos of another, police said,” Richard Liebson reports for The Journal News.
“Edmon Shahikian, 23, of 13 Cobbling Rock Road, Katonah, and Ian Frias, 20, of 1609 E. 174th St., the Bronx, were picked up at their homes Wednesday night after the victim turned the pictures over to police. The police said they recovered most of the $5,000 worth of electronics stolen in the burglary,” Liebson reports.
“On Tuesday, police said, one of the victims, who works at The Apple Store in The Westchester mall, received a call from a friend asking her if she was online,” Liebson reports. “The victim said no, and was told by the friend that his computer showed her as being logged onto the Internet.”
“At that point, police said, the victim signed onto another computer and used the ‘Back to My Mac‘ program to determine that her stolen MacIntosh laptop indeed was signed onto the Web and that someone was using it to shop online. She then activated the stolen computer’s camera, allowing her to ‘see’ what was in front of the laptop,” Liebson reports.
“At first, police said, she saw only an empty chair. But a short time later, they said, she was able to photograph a man, Shahikian, sitting in front of her stolen laptop. The victim then was able to find photos of Frias using the computer after it had been stolen, police said,” Liebson reports.
“The computer-savvy victim contacted police, gave them the tell-tale photos, and the arrests were made a short time later,” Liebson reports.
“Frias and Shahikian were arrested last year on charges of criminal possession of marijuana, a felony, after police recovered 3 pounds of marijuana worth about $7,500 in a Jeep they were in,” Liebson reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, this modern day Cheech and Chong are criminally stupid. Looks like .Mac paid for itself many times over in this case.
@WillieG
I would think you save when you buy in bulk and then add the profit back in by selling it in small amounts.
Pot is illegal. So is stealing. Case closed.
@XLM, surely you do, but I doubt it equates to a $4,000/lb difference
@Jay-Z
She might have turned on screen sharing and just taken a screen shot of the window on the computer she was using, rather than taking a photograph with PhotoBooth or iChat.
A screenshot would not give a picture of the person using the computer!
“We have so many idiotic Internet laws, one could imagine a scenario where she gets arrested for hacking – into her own computer. (ie. “well it’s not her computer anymore!”)”
The problem is, that it isn’t hacking. She is remotely accessing her own computer. That being said, a lawyer might argue that they were photographed without consent. However, since she is a private citizen and not an agent of the authorities (i.e. the police didn’t ask her to do this), the motion would likely be thrown out.
Also, since there are security programs that actually do what she did, that is the security program is activated remotely, uses the built-in camera to snap pictures and send them back to the security company, I am sure it is legal.
A screenshot would not give a picture of the person using the computer!
Unless they were using PhotoBooth at the time….or iChat….or QuickTime’s video capture.
I checked .Mac to confirm what someone else posted about a 30 buck savings on iLife purchased through .mac. There’s an interesting piece of info… it’s good only until may 26th.
Could this possibly mean that there’s an upgrade coming out to iLife?
this would not be a good ad if for no other reason, it would ruin people’s ability to use this technique in the future since thieves would know about it.
This story is a fake. Women don’t know how to use computers!
I want to know why they are on the street if they were arrested last year for a drug-related felony. Makes me wonder who’s the retard here.
Too bad she went to the police right away. She could have had some sensual iChat fun with these boys. Then, just when their hormonal juices were at a peak…call the cops!
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Did she get her pot back too?
2 words, public exucution
That’s awesome…!
these idiots could have been too stupid to notice her taking the picture or controlling the computer.
You don’t risk becoming someone’s prison bitch when you have any level of intelligence.
And they’re probably Windows users, used to shit popping up and doing its own thing without reason. Hell she could’ve launched & scripted Photo Booth, and many Windows lemmings wouldn’t know the difference. After all that’s how computers work….
She could have had some sensual iChat fun with these boys. Then, just when their hormonal juices were at a peak…call the cops!
Better yet, she could’ve done the chat posed as a 9-year old boy. Then called the cops…
@Possible…
No chance. I’m sure the cops did this right. After seeing the photos they obtained a search warrant, with the photos as probable cause that these two lunkheads were in possession of stolen property. Since the criminals were known to them they had the address, and since the victim knew what was taken they knew exactly what to look for when they got there. Case closed.
Not a lawyer, but I’ve executed a search warrant or two in my time…
The most shocking thing about this story is the use of the “word” burglarized. I thought it was a joke, crazy Americans.
Obviously these two were two ignorant to know what that green led was glowing in front of them. That is a great story!!!!!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> Great real advertising for Apple and there back to my Mac feature.
Perhaps there should be some new laws and penalties for stealing computers…
Theft of a Mac… 1st offense: 20 years… 2nd offense: gas chamber
Theft of a PC… 1st offense: psychological and sanity testing…
2nd offense: Full time employment as Steve Ballmer’s dance instructor.
@possible
It seems to me (if I remember Law and Order right) the cops job is to make the arrest, innuendo, hearsay, etc is not their job to decide. However, I am sure (since you thought of it too) there is a fricking disgusting, slimeball, morals ruining, hair splitting, racial card playing POS that will gladly take the case and probably even try and name APPLE in a counter suite for his clients!
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All is well, that ends well!