This reunion of stolen Wii and burglary victim has a happy ending and that’s partially because of the Wii’s virtual avatar system.
Meg Witherspoon was the unfortunate victim of a home robbery case in Jacksonville, Florida. She lots all sorts of items, including a 19-inch flat-panel TV and a Wii.
Luckily, Witherspoon was able to track down the serial number of the TV by going back through sales records. And as luck would have it, the unscrupulous criminal sold the TV to an electronics store which is required to record the serial number.
And as would be expected, the robber also peddled the Wii at the same store. But Witherspoon didn’t have access to her Wii’s serial number, so how was she able to identify which Wii was hers?
Her family of Miis.
Witherspoon was able to prove that the Wii sold alongside the TV was hers by showing police that the avatars saved to the system matched the names and likenesses of her, her daughter, and her two sons.
Because the store kept all the necessary records and documentation when the items were sold, it was very easy to track down Latrina Shepard, who has been charged with the robbery. Shepard, however, claims she received the items as gifts and did not know they were stolen.
The moral of the story here, though, is to make sure your gadgets are customized in such a way that you’d always be able to prove they’re yours. Maybe next time you see your Mii face in the background of Wii Sports, you’ll have a new respect for that level of customization.
