If you rob a bank and are on the run, it’s probably not wise to post your where bouts or befriend a former Justice Department official on Facebook. Take your lesson from Maxi Sopo, the 26 year old native of Cameroon. Sopo arrived in the US during 2003 and mostly spent his time selling roses at night clubs around the Seattle area. Maybe he was bored, or just struggling like the average American, when he took his idea of income to the next level.
Sopo and his accomplice, Edward Asatoorians, plotted a grand scheme! They convinced further accomplices to lie about their income in order to obtain loans for fake auto purchases. In turn, they pumped the funds into Asatoorians’ business and took an over the top trip to Vegas. From there Sopo rented a car and crossed the Mexican border. Sopo and his accomplice are said to have obtained more than $200,000 from their robbery.
Once Sopo got comfy in Mexico he joined Facebook and began updating his status. He posted updates like “LIFE IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!!!!” (June 21st), “BUT SOME OF US HUMANS MAKE A MESS OF IT…REMEMBER AM JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE.” He mentioned in his status that he was “loving it” and “living in paradise.” At this point he might as well have emailed the FBI personally and said “catch me if you can”. Wait, it gets even better!
Sopo befriended a former Justice Department official while at a club in Cancun and proceeded to send him a friend request. For a while the FBI had been surfing all the social networks and could not pin point his exact location in Mexico until Sopo slipped up so foolishly. It wasn’t long before Secret Service agent Seth Reeg requested a phone call with the former official. It turns out Sopo has been living in a nice apartment while working at a local hotel. Sopo was arrested last month and could face up to 30 years behind bars.
