A 23-year-old Massachusetts man who had recently started work as a security guard at Macy’s has been accused of doing the exact opposite of his job description. Police say that the guard and three accomplices, including his younger brother, tried to steal 83 items worth a total of $4,800 at current holiday-sale prices.

Police received an anonymous tip that the guard was the head of a shoplifting scheme, so they used a simple enough method to figure out who is accomplices might be: they looked at his Facebook friends, then watched store visitors to see whether they recognized anyone.

According to the police report, the following text message exchange was on the guard’s phone:

“When is go time at Macy’s”
“8:30”

That just so happens to be the time that the four alleged accomplices showed up at the store while the guard worked very hard at ignoring what they were up to.

(via CBS Local)

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