Fugitive strikes bizarre deal with police

City of Torrington Police Department Jose Simms
Jose Simms. Photo credit: City of Torrington Police Department

A wanted man in the US has agreed to give himself up if police can get enough 'likes' on a Facebook post.

Jose Simms, 29, didn't show up for a court appearance in the Connecticut city of Torrington, NBC reports. Police managed to get hold of him through Facebook, and negotiated a peculiar deal.

"[Simms] has agreed to turn himself in to Torrington police if we can get 15,000 'likes' on this post, Lt Brett Johnson said in a post on the small town police department's own Facebook page.

"I said 10,000, he wanted 20,000, so we split."

Getting 15,000 likes would be "difficult but is doable" he said.

"So please, 'like' this post, and while you're at it share it, Tweet it, Instagram it, Snapchat it... or use whatever other platforms are out there that I don't know about."

Alternatively, Johnson said, you could just get in touch with police if you know where he is.

As of Thursday morning (NZ time), they had more than 13,000 likes.

Simms is facing a number of charges, including breaching the peace, driving under the influence, drug possession and risking injury to children.

Simms' Facebook page is fairly barren, but he has liked three other pages on the social media site - musician Jay Shale, Internet Treasures and the City of Torrington Police Department itself.

Newshub.