14 DAY TRIAL // A man accused of bank robbery was arrested by the authorities after he posted a message on MySpace boasting the crime, a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice in Columbia, S.C. states. Crime and stupidity go hand in hand but this time it took a more web 2.0 approach.
The man, Joseph Northington, aged 27, from Roanoke, Virginia pleaded guilty to using a firearm during a crime of violence in a federal court in Columbia. He is facing a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment from a minimum of seven years to life. The judge Margaret B. Seymour will sentence the defendant at a later date.
The man was accused of robbing the Security Federal Bank in North Augusta, S.C. on January 20 during a visit there. He only made it with $3,924 but had sustained a gun shot scar on his face during the robbery. A man recognized him from the surveillance photos of him during the crime shown on TV. He told the authorities that Northington had stayed with him while he was in North August around the date of the robbery after which he returned to Virginia and that he recognized him from the photos.
Investigators also learned that Northington had accessed MySpace after the crime and that he had posted a message relating to it on his page. The message said “One in the head still ain’t dead!!!!!! On tha run for robbin a bank Love all of yall.” This led to his arrest in Virginia nine days later.
This admission made it hard for him to defend his case and the man pleaded guilty. While many use their MySpace page status to keep friends up to date on their lives, some should be careful about what they share with others. This wasn't the case here but the man will surely not have access to his MySpace page in prison.