A couple of weeks ago blogger Jesse McPherson returned home to find he had been robbed of his Xbox 360 and an old powerbook. After being let down by the local Police Jesse launched his own investigation, and was easily able to obtain photos of the thief from a local pawn shop's security footage. The kid had tried to sell the stolen goods there. Full story here if you want to be brought up to speed.

Jesse eventually got his Xbox 360 replaced thanks to some generous people, but what happened next is amazing. Signing in to his Xbox Live account there was an audio message from the thief. This one little mistake would lead to his downfall. Now Jesse has the thief's Xbox Live account details, the remainder of the sleuthing was courtesy of some resourceful diggers and alike who have now fully identified the thief and all his personal details. His name is Joseph Grone Jr, and you can view every little details about him on this page.

It gets better. Realising he is now exposed for the world (and Police) to see, the thief returned to the scene of his original crime to return the laptop - face to face with Jesse. Jesse on his Twitter page:

"scared kid just came to my door with the stolen laptop in hand. he said he bought the laptop and he saw his face on the intertnet and was giving it back. i was in shock and not sure how to react, i don't really believe him but i've seen him now and know he's in the neighborhood"

Update: Fox news has covered the story: