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Kids today may be spending too much time online and with their gadgets, but at least they can track down the jerks who rob them of their cellphones. Sixteen-year-old Yudelka Polanco managed to find the guy who stole her SIdekick Slide with a little detective work.
Polanco was walking home in Williamsburg last month when a guy grabbed the phone. (The Post reports she had "no chance of catching the young thief" because she was tired and carrying a large bookbag.) When she received her replacement phone two weeks later, a message gave her thief's email address. Polanco explained, "He had signed on to his e-mail with my SIM [subscriber identity module] card still in the phone."
Polanco used the email address in a MySpace search "because nowadays everybody has MySpace" and found his picture, which was only a profile shot. Deciding she wanted to give the police more evidence, she devised a sting where a friend started a friendship with 16-year-old Victor Hernandez. It's so Veronica Mars! From the Post:
The friend was able to collect more pictures and information on him.Not only did Polanco identify Fernandez, who was charged with grand larceny, menacing and more, he was also charged with a January 30 incident where "20 people... congregated in front of Señor Taco restaurant on Havermeyer Street with machetes, metal bats, canes and glass bottles."Having done most of the investigative work, Polanco went to cops with a plethora of pictures of the thug. Then, based on of the information on his MySpace page, cops surmised that Hernandez was in a local gang called "DPL."
Cops eventually were able to find Hernandez and hauled him into the 90th Precinct station house Monday for questioning, law-enforcement sources said.
The Post put this story on the cover - maybe because parent company News Corp also owns MySpace? And remember that crazy stolen Sidekick soap opera from Evan Was Here?
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I've eaten at Senor Taco's, and can well understand their rage.
Machetes and canes? Was this the AARP chapter of the Tonton Macoutes?
Good for her.
myspace > facebook.
i'm glad they arrested another stupid gang member. duh, change the sim card.
Now this is a fun story. :)
story of the year!
This whole story seems foolhardy. She's made an enemy of a gang member known to have violent tendencies and she has her face plastered on the front page of the Post? Why not just put a bullseye on her back? If he doesn't go after her, one of his gang buds will.
What does it prove that she can pick the guy she's been cyberstalking out of a lineup?
Hey everyone, I thwarted a teen gang member. I thought this might be a good way to commit suicide. Maybe you guys at the post can help me die?
I doubt this thug can read, let alone understand the concept of a SIM card. "Yo, I snatched that phone so I could update my Netflix queue and sh*t."
Hmm, "DPL"...time to play guess the acronym!
Awesome chick.
[10] Your glib preconceptions of gang members don't seem to pan out in this case. Did you not notice in the article that he was using the Sidekick to check his email and that he was using MySpace? I think it's fair to say he can read. That girl has just put herself at serious risk, now that the gang not only has her picture, but her full name, too.