Digg mob dispenses rough justice to alleged thief

[Please be advised that this story already has a happy ending; the read's still worth your time, but read to the bottom to see how it all turned out.]

Digg justice! After Jesse McPherson returned from SxSW to find his home burgled of various electronics, he blogged the problem, gave thanks that his dog was okay, and went about his business. Then several things happened. Would you like to guess which of them was NOT the least bit useful in getting at least part of McPherson's gear back?

- McPherson located a local pawnshop where someone was trying to unload a laptop that fitted the description of McPherson's missing G4 Powerbook.

- Kind friends gifted McPherson with a new Xbox and a copy of Halo 3.

- McPherson contacted the police with surveillance footage of the pawn-shop person and, later, with audio when a kid who received some of the stolen goods left a message on McPherson's Xbox Live account demanding $200 for the return of an Xbox.

- McPherson blogged the theft and what he found out... and Digg picked it up.

If you answered, "Professional law enforcement couldn't be bothered with a property crime," you guessed correctly (and have perhaps been the victim of a burglary in a major metropolitan area). [Remember what I said about reading to the end? -- AG] The pawnshop had surveillance video, from which McPherson got still images that he posted to his blog. McPherson's friends hook him up and he goes home and plugs the new Xbox in.

He immediately discovers that someone has left a voice message on XBL taunting him and demanding money for the stolen Xbox. The "caller" left his Xbox LIVE info for payment purposes... which, once Digg folk got hold of it, delivered up everything from the boy's name (Joseph Grone Jr.) to property information on his parents' home.

The good news is that McPherson's gotten at least a bit of his own back, and from the sound of things there may be a teenager in Pennsylvania who ended the weekend smarter than he started it. (Though that couldn't be too difficult based on the voice message he left. His parents must be so proud.) On the other hand, mob justice isn't pretty, and as we saw in the case of Meghan Meier last year, it's not easy to put the brakes on these things. Or, to be specific, it's bad enough that I know about this meathead; why must I know his girlfriend's name, or that his brother has a pet snake?

[And here we are at the end, where I'm pleased to tell you that McPherson got his Xbox back -- dropped off on his porch in a bag, in fact. And it sounds like the cops are taking a look at the data to see if they've got a line on the actual thief. McPherson's pretty pleased with how it all played out, and requests that everyone lay off the Xbox boy and his family now. Don't you love a happy ending?]