RYAN Frost and Melissa Edmunds harnessed the power of social media to catch the thieves that stole their laptop.
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The pair's ASUS laptop, which was full of precious family photos and information, was stolen from their car, parked in the driveway of their Granite Street home.
Three days later the offenders were caught and the property returned.
Mr Frost put it all down to Facebook and the Port Macquarie Police.
"We posted it everywhere," he said. "All over Facebook and even on Port News's page. I've lived in Port for 25 years so I know a lot of people and I was just hoping someone would hear something or know something about it."
Laptop rescued by Facebook
And someone did.
The pair’s babysitter responded to a post on Facebook from on of the thieves wanting to sell the used laptop for $100.
The unnamed babysitter then got in contact with the rightful owner.
“We told her to tell these guys she would buy it and to meet them at Growers Market in the afternoon and she would have the money for them,” Mr Frost said.
“So I rang the police and told them and they were sitting there waiting for them.”
Mr Frost said two young people were arrested by the detectives and the property was returned.
“We are just so stoked to get it back,” Ms Edmunds said.
“It had all our family photos, wedding invitations and my TAFE assignments on it.”
They both said it wasn’t only with the help of Facebook their property was returned but the quick actions of police.
“They were great,” Mr Frost said.
“They helped out so much, they even called me and told me what to do and what not to do.
“Once I gave them all the info we had they did everything they could to catch these guys.”
Police confirmed yesterday a 14- and 20-year-old were arrested in relation to the incident.
The older of the two was charged with attempting to dispose of property-theft, and was granted conditional bail to appear in Port Macquarie Local Court on December 3.
The 14-year-old was charged with attempting to dispose of property-theft and larceny.
He will appear in Port Macquarie Children’s Court on December 7.