Life and Crimes: Fugitives and Facebook don’t mix

Being a fugitive 101, don’t post info about your location on Facebook

Fugitive Tindell posted information about his location on Facebook - not surprising that authorities were able to track him down.

The criminal imbecile of the week award goes to Alabama fugitive James Tindell.

James Tindell had been convicted in 2009 for stealing a backpack from a 17 year old boy in Multnomah County , Oregon. (For those of you television crime show trivia experts who wonder why that county name sounds familiar, it was where Richard Kimble stopped briefly in episode 87 of The Fugitive)

Tindell could have received 70 months in jail for robbery, but he plea bargained down to 5 years of probation and mandatory drug treatment. He complied with the conditions of the sentence for a while and then skipped town, winding up in Alabama.

But merely skipping town wasn’t enough for Tindell, he decided to taunt , on Facebook, his probation officer, Todd Roberts, as well as Eric Bloch, the county judge who had sentenced him.

He posted on his own Facebook page and those of his friends, many of whom he met through court appearances.

“Fresh out of another state,” he wrote in April, “catch me if you can.”

A short time later, he signed an expletive-filled rant about the criminal justice system: “the 1 who got away.”

However, he did not count on Roberts reading the other messages that he left , such as “I’m in Alabama.”

His pregnant girlfriend soon joined him in Alabama, and he posted a copy of the sonogram of his unborn son, which happened to include the name of the hospital in Alabama, where it was taken.

Roberts asked prosecutors for a nationwide warrant for Tindall as a fugitive, which was granted, and signed by Governor John Kitzhaber.

While Tindall was stopped at a noted speed trap in Daphne, Alabama, the officer ran his information and found the warrant.

Tindell was returned to Oregon, where he appeared before the same judge that he had taunted.

Tindell cried and begged for mercy, but the judge wasn’t moved and decided he didn’t “like” him anymore, having been lenient on him the first time around. Tindell was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to reimburse the state of Oregon $2,600 for the cost of a round trip to send an officer to retrieve him, plus his own plane fare back.

The pregnant girl friend was left on her own for any return transportation.

Tindell and other social media addicted criminals will never learn, that what you put on Facebook for only your friends to read is not just read by your friends alone, but by the authorities, too. If you do need have that insatiable need to post information, then use MySpace, because nobody reads MySpace, anymore.

I could have sworn that I had all four wheels when I left home…

From the Gautier, Mississippi police reports released this week:

Incident reported June 21, I-10 westbound, Exit 61, Lashun Love reported the theft of two wheels from his vehicle.

The question is, how did he even get onto the interstate, and how far did he drive before pulling off at the exit and noticing that he had two wheels stolen from off of his vehicle?

Marijuana Mama

Somebody should have told her that you can't smoke marijuana with your kid in the car - it's not her fault.

An Atoka, Tennessee mother has become infuriated over her arrest June 11, partly because she feels she did nothing wrong, but also because the notoriety the arrest has generated.

Stacy Garlock, 24, was smoking marijuana while driving her vehicle as  she approached a police checkpoint at 11:30 PM. She was observed not wearing her seatbelt.

The Deputies also spotted a child in the vehicle as they approached, but more than that, they also smelled the odor of marijuana. Garlock then attempted to destroy the paraphernalia as she was being detained for the traffic violation.

Garlock was charged with felony child abuse/neglect, tampering with evidence, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to deliver, simple possession of marijuana, and violation of the seatbelt law.

While Garlock does not deny that she was toking as she tooled along the highway in the late hours, she does not understand why anyone could possibly be upset over her decision to do it , even with her less-than-year-old daughter in the car.

“It’s a lot better than drinking and driving or taking pills and driving. No one ever died from smoking weed.”

When challenged with the information that marijuana use inhibits perception, coordination and reaction time, Garlock replied “Maybe for some people , but not for me.”

According to Echo Day of the Covington Tennessee newspaper, “The Leader ,”  Garlock was “unremorseful and very angry,” when news of her arrest had made its way to the press.

“My whole entire family is embarrassed, Everybody’s in my business, now,” said Garlock. “I don’t need people judging what I do. I don’t understand why this was even released because I know people who have done way worse.”

Garlock was released on $5000 bail, and her daughter was placed in the custody of the child’s maternal grandmother. Garlock has a hearing on the charges scheduled for August 14, 2012.