Reminder No. 12,057 that the most important rule of social media is to never post anything. A thief made off with a $4,000 painting of LeBron James at a festival in San Diego a few months ago, and he may have never gotten caught had he not shared a picture of the artwork on Instagram.
The painting was by Pako Pablos, who is known internationally for artwork of pop culture icons.
From Fox San Diego, here’s how Pablos said the suspect was found:
“My paintings are one of a kind, unless it’s a print or it’s from digital version, but it can’t be duplicated,” said Pablos.
“Two days after I contacted [FOX 5], there was a screenshot of the painting saying ‘I walked out with a souvenir from the Twista concert’ and it was the LeBron painting,” Pablos said. “He posted it online and of course Instagram, everyone knows everything on Instagram.”
After the festival, Pablos had told Fox San Diego all he wanted was to get the painting back. Unfortunately, detectives have not found the piece and think the suspect may have destroyed or sold the painting in an attempt to cover up his crime.
The painting was part of Pablos’ “Lord Of The Rings” collection that also features artwork of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and others.
