Library Vandal Gets Face-booked By The Police

A 16-year old youth has been found guilty of flooding Portsmouth’s Central Library after he bragged about it on Facebook.

The teenager blocked sinks in the toilets on the third floor of the building at closing time, turned on the taps and left the building. The staff failed to check the facilities before they left and water cascaded down throughout the night.

“…A Few Mates Know”

The whole incident was caught on surveillance cameras but the suspect denied involvement until the police produced their ace card. A transcript of a Facebook conversation revealed a friend asking if he had flooded the library. His reply was, “Kind of, yeah. I’ve kept it to myself, a few mates know.”

With no privacy settings enabled, the answer was available to more than a few “mates”.

The vandal, currently out on bail and awaiting sentencing in May, pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Magistrates Court as he admitted, “I filled the plugs with toilet paper while my friend was in the cubicle. Then he left a couple of seconds before me and I turned the taps on.”

A number of irreplaceable books were destroyed and carpets, computers and electrical systems had to be replaced. The damage came to £150,000, Portsmouth City Council claimed, and the library was closed for five months.

District Judge Anthony Callaway told the youth: “What you have done was a major crime. You should understand the court is now likely to send you to custody.”

The boy joins a long list of fools who have been Facebooked by the police.

• A 19-year old man in Pennsylvania decided to log-in to his account on a computer he found during a robbery – and then forgot to log out again before he left the scene of the crime
• Four bank robbery suspects have been arrested in Texas after one posted “I’m rich” and another boasted of “wiping my teeth with money”
• A bank fraudster fled from the US authorities but bragged on Facebook about the great time he was having in Mexico while hiding out