Xbox 360 thief pwned by the Internet

We interrupt your steady stream of run-of-the-mill blogging, to bring you this awesome tale of revenge.

At the center of this case is a stolen Xbox 360, pilfered alongside a laptop and TV from one Jesse McPherson of Philadelphia while he was away at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin at the beginning of March.

McPherson eventually managed to track the laptop to a local pawn shop. Upon examining the security footage, he found pictures of the culprit.

On March 14, 2008, McPherson’s coworkers pitched in and got him a replacement Xbox 360. Upon taking it home and starting it up, McPherson found a message from the thief on his Xbox Live account, essentially a ransom note demanding an undisclosed amount of money for the safe return of the AWOL console. Proving himself a criminal mastermind, the burglar leaves the message on his currently-active Xbox Live account.

At all points in this epic journey, McPherson tried to inform the local law enforcement of the heist and suspect. He was met with indifference and hangups.

So he turned to a far higher authority – the internet.

Posts on McPherson’s blog were Digged and concerned net people launched their own independent investigation, pursuing justice in a way that only the Internet can. The ransomer’s identity, AOL Instant Messenger screen name and home and high school address were discovered and a relentless harassment barrage ensued. The child learned the very essence of fear and McPherson arranged the return of his 360 with the teenager’s parents.

Despite this awesome outpouring of justice, the TV remains quite at large and McPherson is very sure the person who partook in the burglary and the boy who had left the ransom message are not one and the same. However, McPherson’s laptop was delivered to his door by another individual, and he has since been in contact with detectives who are now going after the original burglar. All of that in addition to having some lowlife getting the bejeesus rightfully scared out of him, forcing him to cough up his hot goods.

Another case (mostly) solved by the brave denizens of the Internet. Good work! See you next mission…

Read [Jesse McPherson's Blog] Also Read [Kotaku]