The Internet did this man right. Photo: Jamie O’Brien // YouTube
One of Jamie O’Brien’s surfboards that was mounted on the wall of his Waikiki surf school went missing over the weekend. Luckily for O’Brien – and unfortunately for the perpetrators – it was all caught on camera.
O’Brien posted the CCTV footage of the board being carried out of the store by a young man with two friends. There are not many places to hide on a small island, especially when you have O’Brien’s 1.3 million followers hot on your trail.
“Please help me identify these kids,” O’Brien wrote on social media. “I’d honestly like to sit down with them and their parents, because this kind of behavior needs to be addressed now before it becomes a pattern. Actions have consequences. Let’s teach them that lesson.”
An Oahu-based digital creator who helped spread the message of the missing board, Tyler Watanabe, said it only took an hour or so for one of the kids to message him and apologize.
“A lesson should be learned here guys: in this day and age, it’s very easy for you to get caught, and be blasted all over social media,” said Watanabe. “Don’t do stupid sh%t. There are cameras all over the place.”
O’Brien later posted an update on social media, explaining that the surfboard had been recovered.
“Thanks to your help, we were able to ID the three people who stole my surfboard from our Waikiki shop,” O’Brien said. “Since that was the main goal, I’ve taken the video down. Really appreciate everyone who reached out. Sucks that these kinds of things happen…Hopefully it’s the last time.”
