We all know how enjoyable Facebook can be. We’ve all procrastinated on homework to look at pictures or be a bit of a creeper and Facebook-stalk someone. But who knew one day it might save us from prison?
Nineteen-year-old Rodney Bradford can thank Mark Zuckerberg for just that. His status update at 11:49 p.m. on Oct. 17 prevented him from being arrested for robbery.
He was already indicted for a robbery in 2008 when the police accused him of being involved in this one. He turned himself in because he knew he wasn’t guilty, but one of the victims still picked him out of a lineup.
Bradford’s father, Rodney Sr., was the one who came up with the Facebook alibi in the form of an update, “On the phone with this fat chick … where my IHOP.”
Apparently, Rodney was teasing his pregnant girlfriend about not getting to go to IHOP with him and his family the night before, and it was posted on Rodney Sr.’s computer, 12 miles from where the mugging took place, one minute before the crime occurred. Who knew making fun of someone could actually be a positive thing? Guess I can stop listening to my parents about common courtesy.
Woohoo! Free and clear! But wait, this might not work in the future. As I was reading the article I thought, “Anyone who knows his password could have posted an update as him.”
Not that Bradford is guilty, but it’s possible for other criminals to try and create an alibi that way.
“On the Internet, nobody really knows it’s you,” attorney Jonathan Handel said. “A kid could set up an alibi by setting up a Facebook update.”
Another attorney, Robert Reuland, said that isn’t likely.
“This is a 19-year-old kid. He’s not a criminal genius setting up an elaborate alibi for himself,” he said.
Well, good to know the older adults don’t think us capable of this kind of high-level thinking. It’s obviously too difficult for us to give a friend our password and ask them to post a status update at a certain time. What are they thinking?! An 8-year-old could do that! Either all of these adults were innocent and sheltered as children or they have failed to realize how quickly our generation has surpassed theirs in technology. Maybe now we can create a fake alibi and get away with a crime. I mean, the way these attorneys think, they probably wouldn’t even think us capable of a felony, but if they do suspect, we’ll all have alibis!
Either way, we now have all the more reason to spend more time on Facebook (as if we need excuses). If we’re always on Facebook, we won’t have time to commit crimes, plus we’ll have alibis if the cops come knocking on our doors. Things definitely just got simpler for a lot of people.
I hope this tip has been helpful for anyone who thinks they might need an alibi in the future. Now, I’m off to go add pictures to my Facebook album.
Hannah Kaase is a senior majoring in animal and dairy science. She can be contacted at [email protected].