Minnesota burglar wins title of ‘world’s dumbest criminal’ after he meets his victim to get back wet clothes he left at his house

A burglar from Minnesota recievd the prestigious title of “world’s dumbest criminal” after logging into his Facebook profile at the home he was burglarizing. What’s worse is he chose to return to the crime scene to collect some clothes he’d left after the victim contacted him through the social media platform.

Nicholas Wig, 26, was arrested on burglary charges after breaking into a home in South St. Paul on June 19th 2014 according to CBS Minnesota. While the story is old it’s certainly a classic. The homeowner, James Wood, returned to find his house had been ransacked by the thief, while he initially panicked over the situation, he quickly found a solution to his problem, “But then I noticed he had pulled up his Facebook profile.”

Wood also found a pile of wet clothes that had been left in his house, a pair of Nike tennis shows, a pair of jeans, and a belt. It had been raining on the day of the burglary so Wig had evidently ditched his wet clothes upon entry and likely forgotten them when he left.

Wood used Wig’s profile to contact him

Wood posted on Wig’s Facebook page in order to get his attention. He said that he had burgled his home and left his number for the criminal to contact him to see if someone else would reach out with information. He likely didn’t think his plan would work but lo and behold Wig actually sent Wood a text the next day.

Wood played the part of an innocent homeowner just trying to get Wig’s stuff back to him, “I replied, you left a few things at my house last night, how can I get them back to you.” The burglar then agreed to meet with Wood at his home to make an exchange, his clothes for a recycled cell phone he had stolen from the house.

Of course, Wood wasn’t planning on making an exchange with Wig. He called the police instead and upon his arrival he was immediately arrested. To add insult to injury, Wig was actually wearing a watch he had stolen from Wood.

Any criminal with common sense would have likely seen the obvious trap being set up for them but not Wood. Commenting on the foolishness of the burglar, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said, “I’ve never seen this before,” noting that the bizarreness of the case “might even make the late night television shows in terms of not being too bright.”

Thankfully for Wood, he was burgled by a rather foolish criminal. As for Nicholas Wig, it’s unclear what happened to him, if charged he would have been facing up to ten years behind bars and a $20,000. Whether he received such a lengthy sentence or not remains a mystery, unfortunately he was forgotten as quickly as he was caught, either way, it’s likely he would have served his sentence by now.