The Facebook Alibi

An innocent Facebook update about pancakes seems to have saved a 19 year old Brooklyn, NY man from being charged with an armed robbery.

On October 17, 2009 at 11:50a.m. in Brooklyn, New York, two individuals were mugged at gunpoint and, the next day, 19 year old Rodney Bradford was arrested for the crime.

Bradford insisted he didn't do it and had the Facebook update to prove it.  Apparently, at 11:49am, from a computer at his father's apartment in Harlem, Bradford wrote a status update "in street slang" inquiring where his pancakes were. 

Facebook was subpoenaed and verified that the update was typed from a computer at Bradford's father's address and Bradford was released.

Rodney Bradford is already facing criminal charges for another robbery. 

Bradford's defense lawyer, Robert Reuland, acknowledged that another person could have used Bradford's username and password to type the Facebook update, conspiring to cover up the ongoing robbery.  But, Reuland says "This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil."

Read the New York Times article here.

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