Facebook helps police identify robbery suspect

Staff report

WARREN

Police continue to find ways to use social media to help them solve crimes.

A man Warren police arrested early Christmas Day on the city’s West Side on a warrant was identified by Bazetta police and loss-control employees at the Bazetta Township Walmart in October through Facebook, police said.

Eric N. Formanek, 26, of Niles-Cortland Road in Cortland is in the Trumbull County jail awaiting arraignment in Central District Court in Cortland on a felony robbery charge from Oct. 17. If convicted, he could get eight years in prison.

The warrant stems from an Oct. 17 incident in which loss-control employees said they observed a man between the double set of doors at the pharmacy entrance to the store pull merchandise valued at $69 from his pants and put it into a shopping cart.

The employees identified themselves as store employees, and the man attempted to run, leading to a struggle and the man getting away as he slipped out of his sweatshirt.

Store surveillance video captured the man getting into a pickup truck and leaving. The video captured the license plate, which came back to Formanek.

One of the loss-control employees used Facebook to look for a photo of Formanek, which led to him being identified and a warrant issued for his arrest, police said.