LAKE CITY, Fla. – A man suspected of stealing instruments from a church children's program in Lake City was identified earlier this month through social media, according to the Lake City Police Department.
Patrick H. Wilson, 26, was arrested and charged with burglary, grand theft and felony criminal mischief.
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Wilson is accused of kicking in the door of the New Beginnings Restoration Church in Lake City on Nov. 10, tampering with the alarm and camera system and stealing items from the church, including $2,000 worth of instruments from the children's music program.
Nearly $1,000 in damage was discovered to the building where Wilson kicked down several interior doors, tried to remove an air conditioning system and damaged the alarm system, police said.
Police said Wilson wasn't successful in disabling the camera system and was seen on video ransacking the church room-by-room and stealing items. At one point, Wilson left the church with several items and then returned hours later to steal more, police said.
Wilson could be clearly seen on the video, but his identity wasn't known until LCPD posted a short video to its Facebook page. New Beginnings Restoration Church shared the post and within two hours, the video had been viewed by more than 4,000 people and Wilson had been identified by multiple people within the social media following.
After Wilson was identified as the suspect, investigators made contact with him at his home, interviewed him and arrested him.
After the interview, Wilson took investigators to two wooded spots where he had hidden the equipment after the burglary. The musical instruments were recovered by LCPD and returned to the church staff the same day.
Wilson was booked in to the Columbia County Jail with a $30,000 bond.
"This is a perfect example of how our social media tools can directly benefit our investigations," LCPD Chief Argatha Gilmore said in a news release. "We want to extend our thanks to the many followers on our social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, our MyPD app) who watch and share our content and helped us wrap up this case."