People post a lot of stupid stuff of Facebook. Drunken pictures, bad-talk about the boss, admissions of guilt, racial slurs — we’ve seen it all. But 19-year-old London Eley from Philadelphia, PA, might take the prize for most ridiculously idiotic thing to do on a publicly available social network.
According to Philly.com, Eley is said to have posted on her Facebook page an offering of $1,000 to anyone willing to kill her child’s father. Hilariously, someone actually responded to the ad (allegedly, at least), one Timothy Byrum, 18, from nearby Darby, PA.
Following an argument with her child’s father, Eley wrote on her Wall: “I will pay somebody a stack to kill my baby father.”
Police say Byrum wrote back, saying, “say no more … what he look like … where he be at … need that stack 1st ima mop that bull.”
Of course, people — especially teenagers — say all types of dumb things on Facebook, things they might not actually mean, things they are saying simply to get attention in a time of emotional need and desperation. Maybe Eley just wanted to get a few people to “Like” her post?
“I think what you have here is someone who was venting, who was upset and once her anger subsided that was the end of this episode on Facebook,” said Eley’s attorney Gerald Stein.
Either way, Assistant District Attorney Jack O’Neil isn’t buying the excuses. “One of the comments made by the female was that she was not kidding, she was serious,” said O’Neil.
Municipal Judge Patrick F. Dugan isn’t taking the alleged plan to kill lightly, either. “Whether it was a joke or whether it’s a crime is something that a court is going to decide,” said Dugan. “People should not be playing on their computers.”
Dugan did admit, however, that we are in a new age for both criminals and America’s judicial system, adding, “The world is evolving … as are the courts.”
Eley has been charged with criminal solicitation for murder. Byrum is charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and possession of an instrument of crime — a .22 revolver found at his home by law-enforcement authorities. The pair has been in jail since their arrests on June 10, unable to post bail, $35,000 and $50,000, respectively. They are set to stand trial on September 6.
[via Gizmodo]