Another criminal caught on Facebook.<\/p>\n
Maxi Sopo was a fugitive on the run until he updated his Facebook profile and notified his social network of friends, including a former Justice Department official, that he was hiding out in Cancun, Mexico.<\/p>\n
Maxi Sopo went on bragging to his Facebook friends about what a good time he was having living in paradise, ironically, one of his Facebook buddies happened to be a former Justice Department employee.<\/p>\n
Sopo had been on the run from charges of bank fraud in Seattle, Washington, when he unknowingly gave himself up through updates on his Facebook profile.<\/p>\n
Sopo came to the US around 2003 from Cameroon and initially made his living selling roses in Seattle bars and nightclubs before allegedly moving on to bank fraud. Sopo drove a rented car to Mexico in early 2009, after discovering that federal law enforcement agents were investigating his bank fraud scheme.<\/p>\n
Investigators searched social networks like MySpace and Facebook couldn’t find Sopo were unable to locate his whereabouts in Mexico.<\/p>\n
A few months later, a secret service agent searched Facebook again and found a profile listing for MaxiSopo. His profile picture showed him partying in front of logos of BMW and Courvoisier cognac, while wearing a black jacket decorated with a distinct white lion emblem.<\/p>\n
Sopo’s profile was set to private, but his list of friends were not. The US agent then searched Sopo’s friend list only to find out that one of Sopo’s friends had listed an affiliation with the US Department of Justice. The agent then sent a message to the friend requesting a phone call.<\/p>\n
The former Justice Department official said he had met Sopo in some Cancun’s nightclubs, but did not know Sopo well and had no idea that Sopo was a wanted fugitive.<\/p>\n
The former Justice official later found out where Sopo was staying in Mexico gave that information to the US agent. As a result, Mexican authorities arrested Sopo in September and Sopo is waiting to be extradited to the US.<\/p>\n