A New Jersey man’s bone-headed Snapchat post featuring guns and money led to his arrest on drug and weapons charges, authorities said.
Taishaun Cosme, 24, posted photos to Snapchat of a firearm and cash in his car on Thursday and investigators were able to use the social media platform’s geo-location function to track him down later that day, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday.
Cosme, of Brick, was located by detectives while driving in Lakewood, where he was found in possession of a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun with several hollow-point bullets and a “significant amount of cocaine” after a court-authorized search, prosecutors said.
Police also found a digital scale and other paraphernalia indicating Cosme was involved in drug distribution, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Detectives from the Barnegat Crime Reduction Unit alerted the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office to Cosme’s Snapchat activity, sparking an investigation involving a county Narcotics Strike Force and four local police departments, authorities said.
“The apprehension of Taishaun Cosme is a prime example of what law enforcement agencies can accomplish when they work together,” Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement. “This was truly a collaborative effort by multiple departments to remove a dangerous drug dealer from the streets of Ocean County.”
Cosme — who was charged with counts including possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and unlawful possession of a weapon — was booked into the Ocean County Jail, where he remained Tuesday ahead of a detention hearing, prosecutors said.
Some Facebook users, meanwhile, criticized Cosme for his alleged need to “showboat” with guns and wads of cash on Snapchat.
“What an idiot,” another comment read. “Got himself caught.”



