Facebook Saves Jailed New York Teen

A playful Facebook message to his pregnant girlfriend about pancakes saved Rodney Bradford, 19, from being convicted of a crime he didn't commit. Prosecutors dropped a robbery charge against the Brooklyn teen after learning his Facebook account status had been updated with the inside joke "WHERE MY IHOP?" from a computer inside his father's Harlem apartment one minute before an Oct. 17 stickup of two men in Brooklyn's Farragut Houses.

Bradford said, "They had on me Rikers Island for 12 days. It was really miserable. If it wasn't for Facebook I'd still be on Rikers Island."

His stepmom, Ernestine Bradford agreed. She said:

"Facebook saved my son. Normally, we yell at our kids, 'Oh, you're on the computer!" It's completely different. If it wasn't for Facebook, my son wouldn't be here."

Electronic footprints created by Bradford's posting on Facebook backed up multiple witnesses who said that he was at his dad's house that day. It also refuted a victim's claim that he recognized one of the robbers as Bradford, who lives in Farragut Houses.

Bradford's lawyer, Robert Reuland, said:

"This was just a very strong alibi. It reflects the pervasiveness that Web sites and social networking has on our lives."