With a little help from Facebook, New Castle County Police have identified a person involved in a fraud case.
Earlier this summer, a man, identified by police as Jonathan Cepeda-Rivas, was fraudulently using a New Castle County woman’s identity to order cell phones.
When he went to her address to intercept the phones, her doorbell camera captured video of him.
New Castle County Police then posted video of 24-year-old Cepeda-Rivas on their social media page and quickly received leads on the suspect.
New Castle County Master Corporal Heather Carter said this is an example of how social media is making it easier for police to catch criminals.
“We know that this is the way that people communicate and obtain their information nowadays. Everybody’s always on their phones, so this allows the police to reach the audience quickly and efficiently,” Carter said.
Carter said in this case, social media was key. New Castle County sent out warrants for the man’s arrest and he turned himself in this week. He was charged with felony attempted theft.
“If we have sufficient video where we’re trying to identify somebody, then yes we put it out on our Facebook page, our Twitter account in an attempt to reach out to the public and get a response and hopefully somebody who knows and can identify a particular subject,” Carter said.