Selfie on stolen iPad helps Houston man ID suspects

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston man said he has his iPad to thank for identifying the men who he said stole thousands of dollars in cash and electronics from his truck.

"I think they felt elated that they got away with such a big score," said Randy Schaefer.

Last week, Schaefer said his truck was broken into. He said a bag was taken that contained a number of items including $5,000 in cash, a MacBook Pro laptop computer and an iPad.

"Just frustrated. I felt violated," said Schaefer. "I was frustrated and I just kind of wrote everything off as lost."

Until Friday morning, when Schaefer said he checked his iCloud photo stream and found 17 selfies taken by two men.

"At first I wondered who they were, and then within seconds I realized who they were and I saw that they had my money in their mouth," said Schaefer.

The photos showed the men holding stacks of $100 bills. In one photo, the men even put the bills in their mouths. They could be seen smiling and throwing up a "west side" gang sign.

YouTube video of the same people surfaced Friday night.

Schaefer said the selfies were taken on his iPad at a Montrose-area Burger King.

"Saw from the Burger King cameras that they were back in that store," said Schaefer.

But by then, the men were long gone. Schaefer said some of the other stolen items were found in an alley behind a Starbucks located close to the Burger King. He suspects it's there that his iPad connected to the Starbucks Wi-Fi and synced the selfies to the cloud.

"Pretty dumb," Schaefer said of the two men.

He said their mistake is now his gain and hopefully for police as well. He said the tables have now turned, the selfies of celebration now selfies in evidence.