Fugitive In Boise Arrested After Inviting Friends On Facebook To Join Him For A Little Batting Practice

CALDWELL — A Boise man might be rethinking his social media strategy after an online post led to his arrest Saturday.  Police say 22-year-old Joey John Patterson had been on the run from officers for several months. He was wanted on a felony warrant for violating his probation in a Twin Falls fraud case.

The suspect updated his Facebook status Saturday afternoon, saying he was headed to batting practice at the softball field at the Armory Softball Field, and inviting others to join him.  Patterson got more company than he bargained for when officers showed up at the field and took him into custody. Caldwell Police Sgt. Joey Hoadley said using social media to track down a fugitive was not that unusual.

“We keep a close eye on that stuff,” he said. “Surprisingly, even fugitives can’t keep from updating their Facebook status, and it leads to some great arrests.”

Patterson was booked into the Canyon County Jail, where he is being held without bond.

It’s official – Spring is in the air.  It hasn’t snowed in like a week, its not quite cold as balls outside anymore, and convicts and overweight middle aged guys alike are heading out to shake the rust off their softball swing.  So I know it’s easy to say that this guy is an idiot for posting this to Facebook, but guess who’s an even bigger idiot?  The guy at the park with a bag full of softballs with nobody to pitch to him, that’s who.  Find me a sadder sight than that, I dare you.  And for the record I’d risk going to jail over  going 0-4 in the season opener 100 out of 100 times.  Some chicks like the bad boy but all chicks dig the long ball.

P.S. Unrelated but semi-related because this made me think of it, but how obnoxious was Keith Olbermann’s “batting practice” analogy when he pretended to apologize to Penn St. students?  I don’t know if it was blogged or not but I don’t think it was and it was so douchey.  The guy who less than a year ago was getting all the headlines for eviscerating the NFL on a daily basis is above getting eviscerated himself?  What thin skinned bitch.