Man Boasts on Facebook of Selling Drugs in Front of Police, Gets Arrested For It

oopsThere’s a lesson that many people, criminals and alike, never seem to learn: what they post on Facebook can, in fact, be used against them. There was a reminder of that this week as 21-year-old Florida man Taylor Harrison posted pictures on Facebook of himself selling drugs while parked next to a police squad car. The police, of course, subsequently set him up with a sting operation and arrested him.

The Martin’s County Sheriff’s Office took pictures of him selling drugs to an undercover police officer, while he bragged that he was the “best around.” After his arrest, the police department posted both Harrison’s pictures, their photos from the bust and Harrison’s mug shot along with a sarcastic post titled “When Selfies Backfire.”

“Since Taylor was kind of enough to share photos of us on his Facebook page, we thought we would share these photos of Taylor on our page,” the police wrote in the post. “Taylor’s bond is $55,500.”

There is a way to be smart about Facebook privacy, though too few users (particularly criminals, it seems) take advantage of the options they have to limit who can see their content. Remember, it’s important to set your profile’s audience even if you don’t plan on advertising criminal activity.