Want to be a thief? Here's how not to do it

Want to be a thief? Here's how not to do it

Gregory Packer is seen entering Kitsap County Superior Court on Thursday, March 8, 2007.

Tools

Story Published: Mar 9, 2007 at 8:24 AM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 9, 2007 at 6:18 PM PDT

By Kevin Reece

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So, you want to be a thief? Here's how not to do it.

Two teenage boys in Kitsap County showed us that the Internet, and an angry victim, are two very powerful crime fighting tools.

MySpace and Craigslist have become very useful tools for everyone, and a burglary victim used them to catch her crook.

Gregory Packer appeared in Kitsap County Superior Court on Thursday, and he's had a pretty bad week.

He's been caught twice - the second time by a deputy, and the first time by the woman he robbed.

Deputies say Packer and a friend robbed a house off Mullinex road in Port Orchard, and took electronic items from the home, including a PDA.

The victim had a wild idea. She put an ad on the Craigslist Web site looking to buy a PDA in Port Orchard. Two boys answered the ad and agreed to meet her at an AM-PM convenience store in Bremerton.

It was her PDA. She confronted the boys and demanded the rest of the stuff that they took.

The boys ran off, but they couldn't outrun their electronic trail.

The Craigslist posting led to MySpace, where the victim found Greg Packer's personal page - and an unflattering photo. That gave sheriff's deputies enough info to find Packer and his accomplice, and they both confessed.

"By their own admittance, they said they were stupid for doing this -- they were bored," said sheriff spokesman Scott Wilson.

Packer's parents bailed him out of jail, but then he did something else stupid.

Which brings us to a dark road just outside Port Orchard where sheriff's deputies say Greg Packer made his last mistake. They caught him trying to unload the rest of the stuff he'd stolen, only he picked a bad location to do it.

Wilson said the location "was in fact the entrance to the police firing range."

The 18 year old confessed again, which is what brought him to jail in handcuffs Thursday for the second time.

This is the story of a crafty victim hunting not-so-smart criminals using a Craigslist and MySpace electronic trail. But police also warn her that she was lucky the trail didn't lead to someone more dangerous.

"If there's going to be any kind of 'meet' set up, let law enforcement do it," Wilson said. "Don't try to engage in that activity yourself."

Gregory Packer and his alleged accomplice, Daniel Hollon, face felony charges for burglary and trafficking stolen property.

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