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Fugitive Says He’ll Surrender to Police If 15,000 People ‘Like’ His Wanted Poster on Facebook
Police in Connecticut have partnered with a fugitive in an unconventional way in an effort to get the man to surrender.
The fugitive, 29-year-old Jose Simms, has agreed to surrender to Torrington police if his wanted poster shared Wednesday morning by police on Facebook, receives 15,000 likes.
Simms, who has seven arrest warrants, is believed to be somewhere in New York state. He recently failed to show for a scheduled court appearance.
So how exactly did a fugitive and the police work out a deal like this?
Lt. Brett Johnson revealed in a Facebook post Wednesday morning, that Simms made contact with him through the social media network, agreeing to turn himself if a post including his wanted poster amassed 20,000 likes. Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to talk Simms down to 10,000, resulting in a compromise at 15,000.
Regardless of the number of "Likes" this post receives, we will continue to utilize the resources we have available to…
Posted by City of Torrington Police Department on Wednesday, May 22, 2019
The lieutenant, who obviously doesn’t quite grasp the power of the internet, described the stunt as “difficult,” adding that anyone with knowledge of Simms’ whereabouts could simply inform the department in an effort to save them from collecting the needed likes.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 11 hours after the Facebook post went up, it had already been reacted to 7.3k times. It is unclear if Simms is seeking 15,000 “thumbs up” reactions, or simply 15,000 reactions of any kind. It is also unclear whether or not Simms will actually turn himself in to Torrington police.
