Woodbury cops turn to Facebook in theft case

Social media helped Woodbury police round up three men suspected in a theft and high-speed pursuit case.

Police lost track of the suspects, but eventually located one suspect’s mother, who said she saw a Facebook post on her son’s wall that had tagged two other males also suspected by police in a theft from the Woodbury Kohl’s.

Officers compared the Facebook photos to state-issued IDs, as well as surveillance video from the theft.

“Officers noted that defendant and the two other individuals were in fact the three who participated in the theft at Kohl's and fled in the motor vehicle,” according to a criminal complaint charging Donja Warren, 19, with fleeing police in a motor vehicle, a felony.

Police responded March 3 to a theft in progress at Kohl’s. The suspects got into a vehicle that police eventually caught up to. The vehicle didn’t stop; the complaint states a chase at one point reached more than 100 mph in a 60 mph zone. Police called off the chase due to safety concerns.

If convicted, Warren faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

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