We all know that MySpace is the super giant of the social network world.  Everyone has a MySpace page from small children, to little old ladies and gentlemen.  Those millions of MySpace pages are filled with everyone from the sweet and innocent, to the criminal minded people.  Nevertheless, what good do the criminal MySpace pages really do for police? 

Surprisingly there are times when it can be a great blessing.  Such a case occurred according to the Examiner when it came to the case of several robberies over a two-week span.  Police were highly confused about who the robbers were until they started locating some information that led them to their MySpace page.  What the police found on the MySpace pages was shocking. 

"On one MySpace page, they found a picture of the mask used in the robberies of two cell phone stores, a KFC and a Wendy’s..."

Talk about some good luck, on another MySpace page the police stumbled upon a picture of another suspect holding the exact model of semiautomatic gun that was used in the robberies.  While many police have to dig for weeks to find information, these cops were spoon fed the information because the criminals in this case loved to show off.

The robbers in this case were actually three teenagers who were all getting into trouble.  According to the Examiner.com story, the spree that involved five separate robberies only netted slightly over $1,000.  The robbers include an 18 year old, a 17 year old, and a 16 year old.  The leader of the group was suspected to be a running back for the Blake High School football team, 18-year-old Vernon J. Hobbs.  This was a bad mistake for Hobbs who was busy attracting a nice sized collection of recruiting letters from different colleges across the country.  Yet, the pictures, as well as information about the getaway car used in the robberies has sealed the deal. 

From our information that has not been a court date yet for the offenders, and it is also unknown if the juveniles will be charged as juveniles or as adults.  It is clear, this will harm Hobb’s football career and it will be a bit more difficult for him to get a good college to take him now, assuming he is even out to go to college.  Hobb’s is currently a junior, so there is sometime to wrap this up before it kills his college plans completely.

Situations like this are not uncommon, police are starting to learn that MySpace is a great place to find information, and check out some leads.  As an informational tool, MySpace is wonderful.  Many times criminals will have other criminals on their friends list, which makes it easier to find the other accomplices and cohorts of a crime. 

While this is not always the case, it has been a very effective method for law enforcement so far.  This is certainly not the first incident of the police finding valuable information on a MySpace page.  There have been other pages, as well as pictures and videos linked to criminal activity all across the country.  The question becomes will this trend continue, or will it fall by the wayside and the criminals will move onto somewhere else to promote their activities. 

MySpace has so far been good with law enforcement in removing questionable material, however as more criminals appear it becomes harder to screen out all of the troublemakers making the social network giant work harder to keep the site safe for everyone.

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