Man posts photo of gun on Facebook. Gets 15 year sentence

If there is one thing we’ve learnt writing for this site for a number of years now, it’s that some criminals really just don’t get social media.

Okay, it’s not just criminals. But if you’re committing crimes that you really don’t want to broadcast to the whole world, we would think that you’d be the one being a little more careful about what you upload to the World Wide Web.

Well, you’d think wouldn’t you? But that advice was lost on that guy who posed for a Facebook photo wearing the same clothes he wore earlier in a brutal robbery. Or that other guy who posted taunts on his own Facebook wanted photo. Or what about that guy who posted a selfie of his cannabis plant from his jail cell!

Adding their name to this very “elite” yet unfortunate list we have Allah Farrad, also known as Marvin Buckles. Way back in 2000, Farrad was convicted on gun and drug charges that led to prison time. Farrad did his prison time and was later released.

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Something Farrad would have been more than aware of is that those convicted of serious gun related crimes in the US don’t get to own guns anymore. It’s pretty straightforward, but somewhere, at some point, Farrad must have got confused.

If you’re not allowed to be in possession of firearms anymore, there are two really important things that you should definitely not do. One, be in possession of a firearm, and two, take a selfie of you possessing it and post it on social media.

Farrad failed on both counts.

Police found the selfie on his Facebook account, and Farrad went straight to trial. A gun expert helped persuade a jury that the gun was indeed real – laser sight and all, and Farrad was convicted and is now about to embark on the mandatory minimum of 15 years imprisonment.

And that’s in a federal jail. So if he was thinking of early parole… well, no chance.

The trial, which was in 2015, represents one of the only times the single piece of evidence – other than expert testimonial – was a post from social media.

Our usual advice stands here. Social media is social, so it’s not the place to post things you’d rather other people not see. Unless of course you’re a criminal, in which case go right ahead.