Bank Robber Arrested After Boasting Of Crime On MySpace

A man's message on his MySpace page helped authorities arrest him on bank robbery charges.

Joseph Wade Northington, 27, of Virginia has confessed to robbing a South Carolina bank and pleaded guilty to using a firearm during a violent crime.

It all began on January 20, when Northington robbed the Security Federal Bank of almost $4,000. After he returned to Virginia, a friend called police after he recognized him in surveillance photos shown on television.

Investigators became even more suspicious when they learned that he had a gunshot scar on his face. They discovered he used MySpace and accessed his page.

There they found that he had posted a message boasting about the robbery: "One in the head still ain't dead!!!!!! On tha run for robbin a bank Love all of y'all."

Nine days later, Northington was arrested in Virginia. He is now facing a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for a minimum of seven years and a maximum of life.

Winston D. Holliday, an assistant US Attorney says: "I never had that happen before, and was amazed that he would basically say he was on the run for robbing a bank, and put it on a publicly accessible site. I guess they feel they figure there friends will be the only ones to look at it. And certainly, I don�t think Mr. Northington would suspect law enforcement using his MySpace page."

For John Delgenio, an account holder at the same bank, this case made no sense: "First of all, it's hilarious. Why are you going to broadcast on the internet that you were the one who robbed the bank and, especially considering the stuff's in your name that's pretty ridiculous."

His MySpace page continues to be up, now with an updated status reading "Wanted."

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