Idiot criminals are no strangers to this blog. Earlier this month we shared the story of a second person who livestreamed their drunk drive home for the Internet to see, and in both cases concerned viewers called police and stopped the driver before they could harm themselves or others. Well today we see evidence that stupidity isn’t just limited to drunk criminals.
A South St. Paul man was sentenced to 30 days in jail after he was caught in possession of stolen goods that had gone missing from a vacation home in Cottage Grove. Odds are the police wouldn’t have had a clue who had burglarized the home, but the thief decided to take a mid-burglary selfie. He snapped a photo of himself inside the vacant home and sent the picture to a group of friends. One of the burglar’s friends was also friends with the homeowners’ daughter, and she forwarded the evidence to the daughter, who passed the transmission on to her parents and the police.
Selfie Evidence
Based on the evidence that someone may have entered their vacation home, the family decided to check on the property to see if anything was missing. Upon arrival they noticed that a screen window had been opened and a variety of valuables, including jewelry, electronics and credit cards had gone missing. The daughter was able to identify the man in the electronic image as Rodney Charles Houska III. After speaking with Houska and his cousin who admitted to being with him at the time of the break-in, police had enough evidence to charge Houska with second-degree burglary.
Houska was convicted earlier this month in Washington County District Court. He was sentenced to 30-days in jail and given five years of probation for the robbery.
