Facebook Post Leads to Drug Bust

In 2010 a movie came out entitled “The Social Network” which some say was not exactly an authorized biography of how Facebook came into being. Of course it was Hollywood-ized, but the essential facts were there: Mark Zuckerburg and a few other people were the brains who came up with the concept, put it together, and made it happen. It started with a group of students on one college campus and spread to other colleges. Within a few years it spread like wildfire to where it was estimated that 500 million people were on Facebook.

It started with the young and progressed to their parents and grandparents who tuned in to see their children’s and grandchildren’s photos and videos and to catch up with old friends from college and high school. It started for fun and to help people connect, and progressed to where it was given credit for a revolution taking place in Egypt. “Like” it or not, Facebook has changed the world’s ability to communicate as much as the telephone and telegraph did in their time.

So why is it that some people still do not realize that everything that they put on Facebook is open to the public? No matter what one’s privacy level is, anything said there can be watched and retrieved and it’s surprising that not everyone is aware.

Take the student in Greenfield, Wisconsin in early October 2011. 17-year old Justin Cervera advertised a “reefer party” for his upcoming birthday. He discussed the party and a drug transaction with one of his friends. Greenfield High School’s liaison officer Lindsey Guillermo read it, and when he saw Cervera and a friend later that day he asked him about it. The officer found marijuana and prescription drugs in Cervera’s pockets, and he was arrested.

Just as many drug dealers get caught because they drive erratically, now this new tool has them announcing what they are doing right on Facebook. No surprise that those involved in this sort of crime would make such mistakes, since substance abuse affects the brain first and foremost. Another resource and the score moves ahead for law enforcement.