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Medley Business Owner Turns To Social Media To Catch Crook

MEDLEY (CBS4) - After waiting more than two years to find out who broke into his business, a burglary victim turned to social media, and reached out to CBS Miami for help.

David Wilpon is the president of Custom Manufacturing Corporation in Medley.

In April 2009, he says two men broke into his warehouse.  He caught the crime on tape.

"I couldn't believe they looked right up at the camera and we were able to see both faces, one better than the other, but they looked right into the camera and gave us a perfect picture of what they looked like."

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A Medley business owner posted these photos on CBS Miami's Facebook page in order to help catch the men who robbed his warehouse. (Source: David Wilpon)

He thought those pictures would help police quickly crack the case, but two and a half years later there are still no answers and no arrests.

So Wilpon decided to do a little detective work of his own, he posted the surveillance pictures on Facebook.  He asked his friends to repost the pictures and he also posted the pictures on CBSMiami's Facebook page.

"I think if the pictures get around enough and enough people participate and post,  eventually somebody's going to look at it and say, 'I know that guy,  I used to work with that guy or this guy's my neighbor,' or somebody's going to recognize him and know who he is."  Wilpon said.  "Social media has the potential to reach the masses for good and for bad and hopefully in this case we're trying to use it for something good."

But police warn it can be dangerous for crime victims to use social media in this way.

Facebook is a public forum, so criminals can find out a victim's name, and if people post information about the suspects, those people could also be in danger.

Officer Natalie Buissereth of the Medley Police Dept. explained the department always uses a secure tipline when releasing photos or asking for information from the public.

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