The Register Star in Hudson ran this story on July 14, 2010 –
HILLSDALE — Information garnered from a Facebook page helped two female burglars figure out the best time to a enter a Hillsdale home, according to the New York State Police.
Eighteen-year-old Jessica Schwed and Jennifer Montague, 17, both of Philmont, allegedly broke into the house July 10 and stole a flat screen TV, computer, video game system and a large quantity of alcohol while the homeowner was on vacation and their daughter was at work.
State Police Inv. Abdul Weed obtained information Sunday evening that the two suspects had sold the stolen items around Hudson, said authorities, and he and Troopers Eric Buchinsky, Mike Castle, Jeremy Proper, Andrew Behrens and Wayne Oles recovered much of the merchandise.
The two girls were then arrested and charged with second-degree burglary, a class C felony.
Police said they later determined that Schwed was familiar with the daughter and found out when she would be at work from her Facebook page.
Schwed solicited the help of her accomplice, Montague, said authorities.
Both girls were arraigned in Greenport Town Court before Judge Robert Brenzel. Schwed was released on $1,000 cash bail and Montague was remanded to the Columbia County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail pending future court appearances.
“She learned a valuable lesson about what shouldn’t be on (her Facebook page),” said Weed of the victim’s daughter.
Weed said this was his first personal encounter with Facebook being used this way, but said that there had been other cases handled by the State Police.
Facebook, the largest social networking site in the world, has more than 300 million users.
According to Legal & General, a British financial services company, a survey of more than 2,000 social media users found that nearly four in 10 — 38 percent — of users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter have posted status updates detailing their holiday plans, while 33 percent have posted when they would be away for the weekend.
“Coupled with the finding that an alarmingly high proportion of users are prepared to be ‘friends’ online with people they don’t really know, this presents a serious security risk for people’s home and possessions,” wrote the company in its report titled “Digital Criminal Report.”
Recent news reports from Indiana and Virginia tell similar tales of victims giving out too much information on their Facebook posts that allowed burglars to figure out when their victims would be absent.
Weed said people need to be very careful about what information they give out on these sites.
Across the country and world Facebook and other social networking sites have been used by criminals of all stripes, from cyberbullies to sex offenders, based on numerous reports.
In March a man in Nebraska allegedly set up a Facebook account under a fake name to lure his ex-girlfriend to an apartment building where he shot her, while a Connecticut man who allegedly sexually assaulted five teenage girls in 2008 met all the victims on different social networking sites, according to various news reports.
Facebook recommends users choose their “friends just as carefully on Facebook as … in real life (and) use the privacy tools to restrict more sensitive updates to your closest friends.”