Last updated April 12, 2019
They say you have to be stupid to be a criminal, and one hapless burglar in York County in the United States may just have proved the point. Northern York County Regional Police were able to catch the man who broke into a home in Sunnyside Road in Jackson Township during broad daylight and stole four electronic items because he accidentally dropped his own cell phone and left it at the scene of the crime. With a search warrant, the police were then able to trace the cell phone right back to its twenty-two year old owner, a man named Keenan Michael Pleasant. They found him fast asleep in his basement, confused about the location of his cell phone. The stolen electrical goods were also found at his home address. Pleasant was arrested on the spot and has been charged with burglary and related offences, as well as the possession of paraphernalia relating to drugs. He went into custody without incident, and his bail was set at five thousand US dollars, which has not been paid, so his current address remains York County Prison.
Neighbor Dan Styers was astonished at the ineptness of the burglar in making such an elementary mistake. “I’ve never heard of anything like that,” he says. “People leaving stuff behind, normally they are taking stuff.”
“The investigation was aided greatly by Mr. Pleasant leaving his cell phone at the scene,” deadpanned Lt David Lash. “It made it that much easier for us to locate him. We’d hate for (burglars) to start zipping their coat pockets.”