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Ex-NASA Engineer's Fart-Laced 'Glitter Bomb' Stuns Package Thieves

Mark Rober's ingenious device unwraps a whole lot of humiliation on crooks in a viral video.

UPDATE: Dec. 21 ― Glitter bomb creator Mark Rober has admitted that portions of his video were likely staged ― but not by him, he says.

In a Thursday tweet, Rober said two incidents in his original video that purported to show his booby-trapped package exploding on thieves appeared to have been staged by friends, unbeknownst to him. He said he was “gutted” when he realized this, and hoped it doesn’t “taint the entire effort as ‘fake.’”

Rober made his admission as legions of internet sleuths detected suspicious details in his video, described in comprehensive detail by BuzzFeed News.

PREVIOUSLY:

All that glitters is not gold for package thieves if they run afoul of Mark Rober’s booby-trapped device.

Rober, a former NASA engineer who worked on the Curiosity rover, put his smarts to a more earthly concern recently: stopping jerks who pilfer holiday package deliveries.

Rober, himself a victim, spent six months developing a baited box that blasts glitter and fart spray on would-be thieves when they open their surprise. The device also takes cellphone video of the culprits, uploads the footage to the cloud and can be tracked by GPS.

Rober’s viral YouTube video, posted Monday, covers the development of his clever boxes of whoop-ass, but the best part is watching them detonate on real suspects. The most common reaction was: “What the fuck!?”

“The moral of the story is, just don’t take other peoples’ stuff,” Rober said. “Not only is it not cool, but on the plus side you’ll never find yourself in this situation.”

Other ticked-off victims have used glitter-loaded theft deterrents, but the high-tech touches Rober unleashed on these grinches are a must-see.

Watch the video above.