The man says that he will visit if his mugshot gets 15K likes on Facebook

TORRINGTON, Connecticut – A very unusual way to find a suspect: the likes of Facebook.

"Mr. Simms asked if his wanted poster was in place and that he had gotten 20,000" likes "he would be going to," said Lt. Bart Barown of the Torrington Police.

Jose Simms is wanted in Torrington for seven failures to appear in court.

After the police posted photos of wanted suspects on their Facebook page, Simms sent them a message, suggesting they go for similar ones.

An officer negotiated from 20,000 to 15,000. On Wednesday night he had received 19,000 "likes" but had not yet surrendered.

Now the police are asking the public to help him by enjoying the post.

"Social media reaches a lot of people very quickly and we want to take full advantage of it," Barown said.

Some Torrington residents say this is not the kind of message they want to interact with on their Facebook feeds. "
"I would probably continue to scroll. I do not know. I probably would not pay attention to that, "said one.

"I guess I would like that to help," said another.

Simms records range from a breach of peace offense and motor vehicle charges to a risk of injury to a child.

Police could work to find it on the basis of computer forensic techniques, but this would require resources usually used for more serious cases.

"Let's hope we reach 15,000" I like ", and he keeps his word and surrenders," Barown said.