I’ll be taking that back now, if you don’t mind…

Jesse McPherson is a 26-year-old, an engineer at Comcast Interactive Media and today, our hero. A little over half a month ago, McPherson’s Fishtown apartment was burglarized and he lost his flat screen television, his Apple Laptop and his Xbox 360. Within the past week, he’s gotten not only his laptop and Xbox back, but also an apology from the local burglar — and all because of the power of the internet.

McPherson, after receiving little help from the Philadelphia Police, took matters into his own hands on the detective end of things — calling the local pawn shop with serial numbers, snagging photos of the suspect trying to sell his laptop and generally trying his best to conduct what the police should have been doing all along.

Days later, co-workers bought him a replacement Xbox 360 and he signed into his Xbox Live account, only to find a litany of insulting messages from the suspected burglar, not only goading McPherson but also trying to sell him back his own stuff. He called the police and told them he was being harassed by the potential burglar right at that minute, to which he was hung up on. Fed up, he posted the story to his personal blog. That’s when the internet took over.

His story was repeatedly “dugg” and soon, anonymous friends from all over the world were helping him track down his stolen property. Vigilantes McPherson had never met before were repeatedly calling the potential burglar at his house, heckling him on Xbox Live and over the internet and even making nasty comments on his YouTube videos. The eventuality: the would be burglar dropped off the Xbox 360, in tact, on McPherson’s doorstep, and his laptop was returned by an accomplice as well.

This is why we love the internet. Thank you, world, for showing us that the anonymity of the internet does not, in fact, make everyone act like a jerk.

Posted on April 4th, 2008 by Ben
Filed under: Philadelphia, WTF Philly