I love tales of stupid criminals getting caught by their own idiocy. I’ve heard many of these stories recently, but this one I think is my favorite by far.

As the burglar was rifling through the rooms in that house, the homeowner’s son arrived and startled him. The burglar jumped out a window and fled. The son called police, who searched the house.

They were stunned at what was found: a cellphone, charging in an electric socket, that didn’t belong to the homeowner.

The phone led police to Cody Wilkins, who is now charged in 10 burglaries.

Police say that Wilkins’s home lost power in the storm and that he needed a place – anyplace, it seems – to charge his phone. In his haste to flee, he left it charging.

And that’s why you always charge your phone before robbing houses. Let that be a lesson to all you wannabe criminals out there.