The handcuffs of a suspected member of the Broadway Gangster Crips street gang is seen while being interviewed by a law enforcement officer after he was arrested in Los Angeles, California June 17, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn
IN PHOTO:The handcuffs of a suspected member of the Broadway Gangster Crips street gang is seen while being interviewed by a law enforcement officer after he was arrested in Los Angeles, California June 17, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn

Valentino Abeyta Barrera could maybe have two things going on his mind right now. Either to practice his thief craft or perfect the mantra "don't get caught."

Barrera had targeted an old lady pensioner for his crime. The robbery happened in Santiago, Chile's capital. Reports said he put a knife on the old lady's throat as he tried to rob her.

But the crowd saw him. It wasn't mentioned if the old lady managed to get attention to herself that led the crowd eventually beating up Barrera to a pulp.

But the mob still weren't satisfied with the justice they have placed on the 32-year-old thief. They decided to strip him naked, then using a clingfilm wrapped him, perhaps not gently, from head to foot and with no mercy then tied him to a lamppost for all to see. The temperature was a frigging 27-degree warm. His underpants were wrapped around his ankles.

Bystanders and people took picture of a bowed down Barrera. A video was also even taken of the incident. All went viral on the Internet. His humiliation lasted 20 minutes before police arrived to free him. Reports said he refused to explain why he was there and was such in a compromising display. He just begged the police to free him.

He was taken to the police station, but was later let go. Police said the alleged victim did not file a complaint against him, so they had to release him. "Unless the man who was tied to the lamppost or his alleged victim want to file a complaint, there is not much we can do," reports quoted an unidentified police spokesman.

His naked photos that circulated on the Internet attracted both good and bad remarks. Observers believed the mob that had beaten Barrera and then stripped him naked "were as guilty of a crime as Barrera himself," according to the Mirror. Others said that the people took the law in their hands meant they do not trust the country's justice system.

"They just had to arrest him, not beat him. This kind of things put us at the same level as the criminals," a certain commenter name Daniela Montoya Pazo was quoted. Daichi Yuka, meantime said he would "do the same thing to the thief who threatened me with a weapon this morning."

YouTube/ AP News