Larry Langston Robber Chicago: Cellphone Selfies Ends In Purse Snatching Arrest

Larry Langston made a crucial mistake: the Chicago robber dropped his cellphone at the scene of a purse-snatching, which led to his arrest.

Police credit a man’s carelessness — and his penchant for taking selfies — in solving a robbery involving a victim’s purse. Investigators say on August 1, Langston followed a 17-year-old woman, who had just made a cash withdrawal at a West Side currency exchange in the 2300 block of West Jackson Boulevard, according to RedEye Chicago.

The alleged purse-snatcher then followed the unnamed victim for a distance before he approached her and grabbed her bag. Next, Langston fled the scene, but dropped the purse, which contained $480 — and his cellphone. In the haste to retrieve the items from the robbery, Larry Langston grabbed the cash, but left his phone behind.

The robber eluded police, but officers collected the man’s phone. And after probing the device for information, they received a break in the case in the form of photographic evidence against the Chicago robber.

For starters, the suspect’s photo stood out prominently on the device as its screen saver. And after delving deeper into the phone, police managed to find a collection of Langston’s selfies. After a court’s order, and ample evidence to effect an arrest, Chicago cops went to the robber’s home and took him into custody. He was arrested without incident.

Larry Langston’s robbery case was cracked with the aid of a dropped cellphone, and the case against him bolstered by the recent craze of taking and posting selfies on social media for the heck of if, or out of sheer vanity.

This case — and many others like it — highlight just how important smartphones can be for police investigations. One such example — which will go down in the annals of criminal lunacy — is a man who allegedly stole gas from a police officer’s cruiser, and then posted a pic on Facebook.

Another example of bad-guy idiocy is when an 18-year-old teen plowed his vehicle into several parked cars in Astoria while driving drunk. At the time, police didn’t have any suspects or credible leads in the hit-and-run reports.

However, the drunk driving teen, obviously still intoxicated, shared a post on Facebook about the matter, and provided police the break they needed to crack the case that nearly went cold.

Drivin drunk … classic. But to whoever’s vehicle I hit I am sorry.”

Cook County Criminal prosecutors say Larry Langston’s bail is $125,000 for the Chicago robbery.

[Image via Chicago Police Department via RedEye]