Question regarding access of Facebook and email

M

mesapsa

New Member
Jurisdiction
Texas
Question, I had an ex boyfriend stay at my place and the next day when I was at work he stole over $5000 worth of items from my house, this has been reported to the police and a theft investigation has begun, no progress with the case yet but they do have footage of this person on camera carrying items down to a vehicle and driving away, so there is video evidence.

Me and my boyfriend were together for about 5 months and we broke up for almost a month and we tried to work things out this last time, had him come back and try things out, well he stayed one night and the next when I got home from work he had sent a text that he was moving and my apartment cleared out of thousands of dollars worth of MY ITEMS, not his. He was never on the lease, he was never given a new key to the apartment so he at that point was still my ex boyfriend. Am hoping he will be charged with theft however this process with the police is very slow and am afraid he may jump state where it will be difficult to track him down.

One thing that he forgot to do when he left was to sign out of my personal computer that he left on a chair. When I opened the computer to use it he was still logged into his Gmail account as well as his Facebook account.

Question is... is it legal for me to go through and read messages on Facebook and Gmail since he left himself signed on? Am I able to provide information to the police from these messages information such as his whereabouts or details brought up in messages related to this crime of theft?

Not sure if I have broken any laws by just reading this information as he was the one who used my computer to access his Gmail and Facebook pages and kept himself logged on. He stole a lot of items and if he were smart he would have taken the computer as well.
 
What did the investigating officer say when you called him to let him know that there was full access to these accounts?
 
KatDini said:
What did the investigating officer say when you called him to let him know that there was full access to these accounts?
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I have never said anything to them regarding this. But I didn't hack into the account, nothing like that, am just able to open the laptop and see all of the new instant messenger messages that he sends and receives. He is the one that left all of this signed in.
 
Well, you aren't going to jail for reading his stuff. I just don't know how much use it will be to the police unless he's foolish enough to provide an address and you can certainly turn that over to the police without mentioning the source.

What bothers me about your situation is that you let this guy live with you for five months. Who's to say that he can't claim that the stuff is his? Do you have purchase receipts with your name on them for any of the items? Do you have a record of serial numbers for items that have serial numbers?

All he's got to say is "It's my stuff" and without proof to the contrary, there it goes.

Make sure you remember this ordeal next time you contemplate living with a boyfriend
 
mesapsa said:
I have never said anything to them regarding this. But I didn't hack into the account, nothing like that, am just able to open the laptop and see all of the new instant messenger messages that he sends and receives. He is the one that left all of this signed in.
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Looking is generally NOT a crime.
Looking on your OWN computer, generally NOT a crime.

Allowing a mooch, a leech, almost anyone to live with you can very often cause YOU to be the VICTIM of CRIMES.
 
adjusterjack said:
Well, you aren't going to jail for reading his stuff. I just don't know how much use it will be to the police unless he's foolish enough to provide an address and you can certainly turn that over to the police without mentioning the source.

What bothers me about your situation is that you let this guy live with you for five months. Who's to say that he can't claim that the stuff is his? Do you have purchase receipts with your name on them for any of the items? Do you have a record of serial numbers for items that have serial numbers?

All he's got to say is "It's my stuff" and without proof to the contrary, there it goes.

Make sure you remember this ordeal next time you contemplate living with a boyfriend
Click to expand...
When he moved out in November he took everything that belonged to him, when he came back at the end of December he brought with him a 1/2 packed suitcase so he had no plans of coming back to live full time with me. I do have many receipts and the video shows him going up and down the stairs with items from my place being loaded into a vehicle. All the items that were taken belonged to me as the majority of his things were at the other place he was living at.

I have already provided the police with his current whereabouts in the hopes that this case gets moving and an arrest can be made. I was basically robbed by someone that I thought loved me.
 
army judge said:
Looking is generally NOT a crime.
Looking on your OWN computer, generally NOT a crime.

Allowing a mooch, a leech, almost anyone to live with you can very often cause YOU to be the VICTIM of CRIMES.
Click to expand...
So since he remained logged on to these accounts on my own computer gives me a right to be able to go through them and give this information over to the police if it is in regards to this crime? I want action to be done here.
 
mesapsa said:
When he moved out in November he took everything that belonged to him, when he came back at the end of December he brought with him a 1/2 packed suitcase so he had no plans of coming back to live full time with me. I do have many receipts and the video shows him going up and down the stairs with items from my place being loaded into a vehicle. All the items that were taken belonged to me as the majority of his things were at the other place he was living at.

I have already provided the police with his current whereabouts in the hopes that this case gets moving and an arrest can be made. I was basically robbed by someone that I thought loved me.
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Tip, from a very old man, be careful in thinking someone loves you.

You must take the time SLOWLY to ascertain IF anyone loves you.

Trust no one, until your trust has been EARNED!
 
mesapsa said:
So since he remained logged on to these accounts on my own computer gives me a right to be able to go through them and give this information over to the police if it is in regards to this crime? I want action to be done here.
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I never said ANYTHING about RIGHTS.

I said LOOKING is generally NOT a crime, especially if NO ONE learns you looked.

The police might not be interested in his Internet activities unless his activities point to his CRIMINAL activity.
 
army judge said:
I never said ANYTHING about RIGHTS.

I said LOOKING is generally NOT a crime, especially if NO ONE learns you looked.

The police might not be interested in his Internet activities unless his activities point to his CRIMINAL activity.
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Right and he has made some statements in regards to this crime about him possibly going away to prison for something that he's done, just hasn't come out yet and said exactly what. He left the area and moved 100 miles away probably to avoid possible prosecution. He gave someone his address so I know where he currently is and that info was advised to the police department if and when they move on this case. We have clear and useable video footage of him going up and down stairs with my items.
 
adjusterjack said:
Well, you aren't going to jail for reading his stuff. I just don't know how much use it will be to the police unless he's foolish enough to provide an address and you can certainly turn that over to the police without mentioning the source.

What bothers me about your situation is that you let this guy live with you for five months. Who's to say that he can't claim that the stuff is his? Do you have purchase receipts with your name on them for any of the items? Do you have a record of serial numbers for items that have serial numbers?

All he's got to say is "It's my stuff" and without proof to the contrary, there it goes.

Make sure you remember this ordeal next time you contemplate living with a boyfriend
Click to expand...
Also during this entire five month period that he was at my place he had no job, no source of income and was unable to pay for anything because he was lazy and didn't want to get a job. So he had no financial sources to buy any of these items. The only items that were his was his suitcase (he stole another one of mine), his clothes that I bought for him and some jewelry items. That's it!
 
mesapsa said:
Right and he has made some statements in regards to this crime about him possibly going away to prison for something that he's done, just hasn't come out yet and said exactly what. He left the area and moved 100 miles away probably to avoid possible prosecution. He gave someone his address so I know where he currently is and that info was advised to the police department if and when they move on this case. We have clear and useable video footage of him going up and down stairs with my items.
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Criminal investigations, especially of nonviolent "petty" crimes can take 60-180 days.
All you can do now is be vigilant, silent, and wait.
 
mesapsa said:
Also during this entire five month period that he was at my place he had no job, no source of income and was unable to pay for anything because he was lazy and didn't want to get a job. So he had no financial sources to buy any of these items. The only items that were his was his suitcase (he stole another one of mine), his clothes that I bought for him and some jewelry items. That's it!
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You should have booted his lazy, useless, carcASS after the first 24 hours.
Again, don't allow bums and thugs to get that close to you.
 
army judge said:
Criminal investigations, especially of nonviolent "petty" crimes can take 60-180 days.
All you can do now is be vigilant, silent, and wait.
Click to expand...
I just do not understand why it is taking so long, this happened around the 20th of December, over a month ago, the police have the footage showing him and another person loading my things into a vehicle. You would think just based on that that a warrant could be issued. Just very frustrating. At least my insurance company has made payment for my missing things.
 
mesapsa said:
I just do not understand why it is taking so long, this happened around the 20th of December, over a month ago, the police have the footage showing him and another person loading my things into a vehicle. You would think just based on that that a warrant could be issued. Just very frustrating. At least my insurance company has made payment for my missing things.
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Good, you've been made financially whole.
Again, don't take up with criminals, and lazy, useless, nonworking bums.
They tend to be criminals.
 
army judge said:
Good, you've been made financially whole.
Again, don't take up with criminals, and lazy, useless, nonworking bums.
They tend to be criminals.
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Do you think the police will file charges against him in this case? Like I said we were together for almost 5 months, he moved out for three weeks to a different location, came back for a night and robbed me the next while I was at work. He even said that he "didn't take my things" on FB to me which the police had me forward to them the screen shot of him saying that, however the video film shows otherwise, it was him and another person.
 
mesapsa said:
Do you think the police will file charges against him in this case? Like I said we were together for almost 5 months, he moved out for three weeks to a different location, came back for a night and robbed me the next while I was at work. He even said that he "didn't take my things" on FB to me which the police to note of, however the video film shows otherwise, it was him and another person.
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Hard to say, but you've been reimbursed, so move on.
If he's prosecuted, that doesn't mean he'll be convicted.
He's out of your life.
To reinforce that, go get an emergency order of protection, or restraining order.
That doesn't mean too much, but it'll piss a scumbag like that off. LOL
 
army judge said:
Hard to say, but you've been reimbursed, so move on.
If he's prosecuted, that doesn't mean he'll be convicted.
He's out of your life.
To reinforce that, go get an emergency order of protection, or restraining order.
That doesn't mean too much, but it'll piss a scumbag like that off. LOL
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I agree. It's kind of hard to say that you didn't do it when its on video and especially when he lied to me on the Facebook posting stating that he didn't take my things. I would assume that would be a open and closed case. Who knows, I just want justice, I want to stop having to see where he is as I want him to come to justice for what he has done to me.
 
mesapsa said:
Also during this entire five month period that he was at my place he had no job, no source of income and was unable to pay for anything because he was lazy and didn't want to get a job.
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When that became clear is when you should have washed your hands of him and thrown him out.
 

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