Facebook Post Prompts Mom to Turn in Son, Cops Say The Florida woman’s son was wanted in connection with a recent robbery.

[bonnie]

Facebook Post Prompts Mom to Turn in Son, Cops Say The Florida woman’s son was wanted in connection with a recent robbery.

By Sherri Lonon (Patch Staff)February 4, 2015 at 9:13am

A Casselberry woman got quite a shock recently while surfing Facebook posts.

It seems her 18-year-old son was rather recognizable in a particular post that caught her attention. Two photos of the teen were displayed inside a wanted poster added to the Casselberry Police Department’s page.

The poster was created in an attempt to solve a Jan. 31 shoplifting incident at the Casselberry Target. The person pictured, the wanted poster stated, was accused of swiping seven PlayStation 4 controllers and two Xbox One controllers valued at $670.

Anyone who recognized the person in the poster was asked to call the police department.

And, that’s exactly what the mom did, according to WFTV.com.

Police told the news station the mom called them and identified the person they were looking for as her son. Sure enough, when police answered the call to see if the woman’s son and the wanted suspect were one in the same, Joel Brown, 18, was wearing the exact same sweatshirt pictured in the Target surveillance photos, the station reported.

Brown was charged with retail theft early Wednesday morning. He was being held in the Seminole County Jail in lieu of $2,000 bond, according to jail records.

As for the Casselberry Police Department, it added a follow up post to its Facebook page Wednesday morning. It was the same wanted poster altered with the words “Cancel-Arrest Made” stamped across the images.

Photo Credit: Wanted poster courtesy of the Casselberry Police Department/Joel Brown booking photo courtesy of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office

 

OK, parents, how would you have handled this situation? 

 

[Lauralea]

He obviously was going to sell them. I wonder why and would ask him. Or possibly they were for his friends. He needs a different view of friendship and maybe counseling to reorient his values and prorities.

Probably I would call a lawyer and have my son turn himself in with the stuff in the most appropriate way after a big lecture from me on the realities of those who shoplift large amounts of stuff do not end up rich they end up in jail along with the values behind not stealing etc. Wonder if this person has a relationship with God- I hope if I had a child they would.

After the arrest etc were sorted out I would insist he get a reputable job or be in college full time then advise him to work to get money to expunge the record. And even though he is 18 I would treat him like a 16 year old if he were under my roof and ask a lot of questions about friends and free time etc. and friends who were a bad infuence would be seen a lot less.