By April, convicted robber James Tindell clearly was fed up with attending drug treatment, making his monthly court appearances and checking in regularly with his probation officer – conditions he'd accepted to avoid a lengthy prison sentence.

So, on his Facebook page and on the pages of his friends – many of whom he met through court – he began posting nasty messages to the Multnomah County judge who sentenced him and writing taunts to his probation officer.

"Fresh out of another state," he wrote April 20, "Catch me if you can."

Seven days later, he signed an expletive-filled rant about the criminal justice system: "the 1 who got away."

Tindell's probation officer, Todd Roberts, was intent on proving Tindell wrong.

The probation officer was paying attention to the social network and compiled all Tindell's posts. He figured out where Tindell might be, and asked prosecutors to issue a nationwide arrest warrant, which Oregon

signed.

"The way we found out where James Tindell was, was through Facebook," deputy district attorney Michael Schmidt said. "And, it's not because we were super sleuths."

Tindell apparently didn't realize who might be reading his Facebook page, with such posts as, "I'm in Alabama."

The probation officer also narrowed down which county. Roberts suspected Tindell's girlfriend was with him when he posted a photo of her pregnant belly. He also posted a sonogram of his unborn son that showed the name of the county general hospital in Alabama where it was taken.

It's not uncommon for probation officers these days to monitor offenders through social media. "It's kind of an open secret to the defendants," Schmidt said. "If their pages are unblocked, we're going to be looking at Facebook."

Last month, Tindell was arrested for speeding in Daphne, Alabama. An officer ran his license and found the warrant.

Tindell was flown back to Oregon to appear before the same judge he had chided on Facebook.

"Mr. Tindell,"

began at a June 8 hearing in

. "You turned in some good periods of performance. And then, for whatever reason, you decided that you had had enough, and you just took off, and you never looked back...That's just unacceptable behavior."

Tindell, in tears, pleaded for leniency.

Bloch cut him off. "Sir, you could have stayed here and done treatment. You decided to run away. So how could you now be asking for me to give you another chance to avoid prison? "

Crying, Tindell admitted, "I messed up."

Tindell was arrested for robbery in 2009 after he and two accomplices grabbed the backpack and glasses of a 17-year-old boy who had stepped off a Tri-Met bus in North Portland. In April 2010, Tindell pleaded guilty to robbery and got a good deal: He avoided a 70-month prison sentence for the Measure 11 offense by agreeing to drug treatment and five years of probation. But failure to complete the treatment would result in some prison time.

Tindell did well for a few months. When he started missing treatment and court appointments, the judge issued multiple failure to appear warrants for his arrest. Each time he was picked up, the court issued sanctions of up to 10 days in jail or multiple hours of community service. Eventually, prosecutors put out the nationwide warrant.

At his June hearing, Tindell told the judge he was fearful of prison and scared to be on Portland's streets because he had cooperated with law enforcement. He feared retribution. "I just want to be there for my family," he pleaded.

The prosecutor urged the judge not to be swayed. "It just doesn't ring true," Schmidt said.

Schmidt asked that Tindell be ordered to pay the state back the costs for flying him back to Oregon: $2,600.

The judge agreed and sent Tindell to prison for 2 1/2 years."Mr. Tindell, I wish you weren't ending this way," Bloch said, "but you do have to be accountable for your choices and actions."

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