The taunt of an apparent Facebook thief

The e-mail from my son was urgent; the subject line read simply "help."

My wife and I ran to the car, dialed 911 and headed home, where D.C. police officers were just arriving as we pulled in.

Sometime between 10 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Friday, a burglar busted through our basement door -- simply kicked through the 80-year-old wood panels -- and took a bunch of stuff. My son, 15, got hit hardest; his laptop, iPod, savings bonds and cash were gone.

Just one more example of life in the big city. Except that the apparent thief didn't stop with taking our belongings.

He felt compelled to showboat about his big achievement: He opened my son's computer, took a photo of himself sneering as he pointed to the cash lifted from my son's desk, and then went on my son's Facebook account and posted the picture for 400 teenagers to see. In the picture, the man is wearing my new winter coat, the one that was stolen right out of the Macy's box it had just arrived in.

"I've seen a lot, but this is the most stupid criminal I've ever seen," marveled D.C. police Officer Kyle Roe, who stayed with us for hours as we waited for the crime scene technician, who painstakingly lifted dozens of fingerprints from nearly every room in the house.

Read more on Story Lab.