The man who taunted police on their Facebook page while trying to evade capture, has handed himself into Whakatane District Court.

Michael Shane Hagger, 34, has been wanted by police since May when he failed to turn up to court for charges relating to shoplifting.

He made headlines last week when he posted a Facebook message to the Tauhara Paetiki Neighbourhood Policing Team in Taupo, which gained considerable attention on Twitter.

He also made headlines overseas with the US online publication the Huffington Post reporting his exploits, along with other social media publications such as Mashable.com.

The Tauhara Paetiki Neighbourhood Policing Team posted Hagger's picture on Saturday June 30 with the message calling for information on his whereabouts.

Hagger responded on the post saying "hoo rah", which gained 53 likes.

The neighbourhood policing team posted back that they were glad Hagger liked their page and asked him to get in touch with a Detective Dunne "to get these matters sorted", but Taupo police said that, up until today, they were still looking for him.

Hagger, quite the prolific social media user, Facebooked Fairfax NZ this morning to say he would voluntarily appear at Whakatane District Court.

He also Facebooked the Bay of Plenty police, spokeswoman Kim Perks said.

Perks confirmed he had shown up at court this morning, although the outcome was not yet known.

When he made the taunt, police said he may have underestimated the power of social media - only achieving to draw more attention to himself.

Senior Sergeant Tony Jeurissen, Taupo's acting area commander, said Hagger had made the job of hiding that much more difficult for himself.

Perks said Hagger was originally wanted in court for charges relating to shoplifting, but ended up with three warrants for his arrest after failing to show more than once.

She said his photo had been removed from the community policing page and a message placed saying police were no longer looking for him.

- © Fairfax NZ News