Connecticut fugitive tells police he’ll turn himself in if department gets 15k likes on Facebook post

A fugitive says he will turn himself in to Connecticut police if the department can get 15,000 likes on a Facebook post.

The City of Torrington Police Department posted on Facebook Wednesday morning that Jose Simms contacted the department through the social media platform and agreed to turn himself in if the post containing his warrant got 15,000 “likes.”

{mosads}”Here’s an interesting one…Jose Simms (The first warrant pictured) negotiated with me earlier this week (Through Facebook) and has agreed to turn himself in to Torrington Police if we can get 15,000 ‘like’  on this post (I said 10,000 he wanted 20,000, we split),” the department wrote on Facebook. “It will be difficult but is doable.”

Simms has seven arrest warrants and is being sought as a fugitive after failing to appear in court. Simms is reportedly believed to be in New York and is wanted on charges relating to breach of peace and risk of injury to a child, the Associated Press reported.

Simms told AP that he is serious about the offer in a message on Facebook. 

“I wanted to give them a little incentive for all the hard work they put in to catch me,” he wrote in a Facebook message to the outlet.

The Torrington Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Maki Haberfeld, an expert in police ethics and procedure at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the AP that Simms is using social media to manipulate both police and the news media.

“It turns this into a joke,” Haberfeld told the AP. “People will start looking at these various violations of law as a game.”

“This is 100% manipulation,” she added. “And for police, it’s not an ethical thing to do.”