Facebook Photo of Stolen Ring Puts Couple In Jail

An anonymous reader writes "A Facebook photo of a stolen 3 carat diamond ring recently helped police solve a jewelry theft. After rings and other items valued at more than $16,000 were taken from a home on Saturday, a friend of the victim's roommate saw one of the items on the social network. 20-year-old Crystal Yamnitzky captioned the photo with the following message: 'Look what Robby gave me I love him so much,' in reference to her 21-year-old boyfriend Robert Driscoll. Yamnitzky's cousin saw the post and told some friends, who alerted police. Both Yamnitzky and Driscoll have been charged in the case."

Comments

Fitting name...

[mekkab]

"Robby", it's more than just his hobby! /I love how they charged the girlfriend (even though she's not just innocent but also oblivious) just so she'll roll on her fiance. //For the record, I'd totally spill my guts, too.

When you care enough to send the very best

[bgfay]

Nothing in the world says "I love you" quite so much as stolen merchandise. I'm so head over heels for my wife that I'm about to go out and knock over a convenience store.

Re:When you care enough to send the very best

[physicsphairy]

Ha! Your love is feeble, my friend. For my wife I just stole roughly $1.2 million worth of intellectual property. (downloaded her a Beatle's album via torrent)

Re:When you care enough to send the very best

[martin-boundary]

That's just wrong. It's because of people like you that John Lennon has point blank refused to write any new songs for the last 30 years. I hope you're proud of your achievement!

Nothing Beats Stupid Criminals

[hduff]

for solving crimes. Ask any cop.

What is this I don't even

[Alex Belits]

So, at least according to the police and article author:

1. Dumb woman insists on getting an expensive engagement ring from her boyfriend despite both being broke.
2. Dumb boyfriend steals a ring from dumb woman's cousin's friend's roommate while visiting with dumb woman and her cousin.
3. Dumb boyfriend gives stolen ring to the dumb woman.
4. Dumb woman posts a photo of the ring to facebook.
5. Dumb woman's cousin recognizes the ring.
6. Dumb woman's cousin tells his friends and they call the police.

While (1) to (4) are already incredibly stupid, and (2) is beyond my understanding of stupidity (that is, I can not see the logic, faulty or not, behind making such decision), I have to point out that the person who recognized the ring was dumb woman's cousin AND victim's roommate's friend. Even if dumb woman did not post the photo in (4), he would see her wearing the ring, so (5) and (6) would inevitably follow.

So considering how little importance Facebook has in those events, I have to bring a more important (at least for this site) matter -- SOME PEOPLE ARE EXTREMELY STUPID. Stupid to the extent that they choose the worst course of actions available to them in a situation when absolutely nothing compels them to do anything at all. And people like that use technology.

Re:What is this I don't even

[Anonymous Coward]

>why even bother for such a small amount of money?

Junkies live in the moment. Often they expect to die very soon and they are bargaining for the moment. This is hard to understand if you haven't walked in their shoes. I'm not trying to justify it.

How about the other items?

[e9th]

They later learned that Driscoll had sold six of the stolen items at Gold Buyers of Pittsburgh for $250.

This is what is so maddening about these crimes. I do not know what the six stolen items were, but I'll bet that some of them had sentimental value to the owners far beyond the intrinsic value of the gold itself, and now they are likely gone forever.

Re:"Receiving stolen property"? Why is this a crim

[SharpFang]

Knowingly receiving stolen property is a serious crime. Receiving it in good faith, without knowledge or suspicion it was stolen is not. It's up to the court to determine which is the case. (you still have to give the property back, and if you paid for it while buying it in good faith you may join the suit against the thief to have your money back)

If she had a good reason to suspect the ring was stolen, she's guilty. But if the boyfriend successfully deceived her into believing this was all legit she'll walk away free.
(yes, she can lie her way out of this one even if she's guilty, if she's clever enough. OTOH she doesn't sound very clever.)

Re:I am from that area.

[wmbetts]

It's not nice to assume everyone is a coke head. She might like meth too!

Re:"Receiving stolen property"? Why is this a crim

[sjames]

Actually, what I mean is that it appears that DAs are increasingly willing to bring charges even when it should be obvious the defendant is not guilty, add charges that are clearly inappropriate and insist on the defendant's guilt even when actually proven innocent through forensics. The latter to the point that they have been known to fight the release of a prisoner AFTER they have been unequivocally exonerated.

I suppose all of that could be genuine belief in guilt, but only if the belief has crossed into mental illness, kinda like those guys who genuinely believe the aliens are talking to them in their heads.

It could be that it has always been like that and it just comes to light more often, but that hardly improves matters.