Facebook Status Update Keeps Teen Out Prison

Imagine if the most important sentence you ever wrote was a Facebook status update that goes something like this: "ON THE PHONE WITH THIS FAT CHICK......WHERER MY IHOP." Now you know how it feels to be 19-year-old Rodney Bradford, who used that all-caps message to keep himself out of prison.

The teen was suspected of a gunpoint robbery until he used the status update as an alibi, proving to a district attorney that the message had been written in Harlem at the time of the mugging in Brooklyn's Farragut Houses, according to the Times' blog The Local. Oddly, the Times cleans up Bradford's status update — which it describes as being "written in indecipherable street slang" that was "gobbledygook to anyone besides Mr. Bradford" — to read "Where's my pancakes." A visit to Bradford's Facebook page reveals it actually says "ON THE PHONE WITH THIS FAT CHICK......WHERER MY IHOP." (This blog has more on the discrepancy between the messages.)

Sources told the paper that this might be the first time that a Facebook status update has been effectively used as an alibi. That said, Bradford — who has since updated his status to read "CALL ME FACEBOOK KID..." — remains the suspect in another mugging, and some claim he could have had friends or family enter the Facebook update in Harlem while he committed the crime in Brooklyn. “Some of the brightest people on the Internet are teenagers. They know the Internet better than a lot of people. Why? Because they use it all the time," said Joseph Pollini, who teaches in the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “So they could develop an alibi. They watch television, the movies, there is a multitude of reasons why someone of that age would have the knowledge to do a crime like that.”

Bradford's attorney denies those allegations. "This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Muessig in News on November 11, 2009 5:11 PM

Comments [rss]

Prefect

This is great. Now that this is an acceptable defense, here is my script for updating a Facebook account from a PC while I simultaneously knock over a liquor store:

http://praetorianprefect.com/archives/2009/11/the-perfect-crime-the-perfect-alibi-my-facebook-status/

efg72

The facebook update alone was not the alibi, it was additional to interviews with his father and step-mother who were in the home with him at the time of the crime.

From the NY TIMES http://fort-greene.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/his-facebook-status-now-charges-dropped/?scp=2&sq=facebook&st=cse

"Mr. Bradford contended he was in Harlem, visiting his father at the time — a claim supported by Mr. Bradford’s father, Rodney Bradford Sr., and his stepmother, Ernestine Bradford, Mr. Reuland said.

Mr. Reuland acknowledges that, in principle, anyone who knew Mr. Bradford’s username and password could have typed the Facebook update, but he regards it as unlikely in this case.

“This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil,” Mr. Reuland said, adding that the Facebook entry was just “the icing on the cake,” since his client had the other alibis."

Mordicai

Of course there are theoretical ways to hack it-- BUT THIS ISN'T A BESTSELLING MYSTERY NOVEL. Jeez people. What the heck. WHAT IF HE HAXORED IT WITH A LASER & A MICROCHIP TO TWEET HIS MEGADECK? WHAT IF!!!!!!

Also, "indecipherable street slang." Ah, what? WHAT.

inoyourider

WTF does this prove?

That DA's are idiots.

jt10000

WERIN YR IHOP, ALIBYIN YR CRIMZ

LOLZ

laisla

For the win!

tom9d

Ask and you shall receive.

http://is.gd/4Tr2y

marcasm

Another "aspiring rapper" ? Pound for pound the best status update he's ever made.

Spirit of 76

"This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil."

Oh, come on. It doesn't take a "criminal genius" to have someone make updates from home for you. Even before I started reading the story, my first (admittedly cynical) thought was, "How do we know it was actually him making the entry?"

latifah456

Thanks now we can get away with crimes and give my password to my brother for the updation

jaycjay

Nice impersonation of one of his status updates!

potsmoker

remember the metrocard alibi shooting suspect who was cleared, the DA said that having someone swipe the metrocard was part of the conspiracy and he sat in jail for months, maybe years, look it up.

pudeljung

"WHERER MY IHOP"

CafePress, anyone????

Gretchen

http://www.cafepress.com/wherermyihop

nogenius

Actually, couldn't the police track the ping from his phone to see where he was when he called the fat girl. If his location shows up in Brooklyn, then one can suspect that someone else was involved with updating his status.

Or, maybe he was using an IPHONE or similar device to post, while he was in Brooklyn.

Either way, this doesn't sound like a great way to rule out if someone was committing a crime.

jaycjay

"Or, maybe he was using an IPHONE or similar device to post, while he was in Brooklyn"

The Times post says that Facebook was subpoenaed, and their data confirmed that the update was made from a computer at the home.

Now, I do log in remotely to both my home and work locations, and if I were to do that and post to Facebook it would appear that I was at a particular computer when I was actually miles away. So this isn't an airtight alibi, but the Times piece also says that he had other alibis besides this. It wasn't actually the only thing that got him released.