Jul 31, 2007 4:07 pm US/Eastern
Websites Contradict 'I Don't Wear Hats' Assertion
Online Photos Of Similar James Madison Show Him Wearing Hats
NEWARK (CBS/AP) ―
The suspect in a string of 18 bank robberies said in a jailhouse interview that he did not rob the banks.
James Madison, known as the "Mad Hatter," also said that he did not wear hats. The FBI was investigate Tuesday whether he posted pictures on Web sites that contradict that second assertion.
The FBI found pages on two social networking sites, Myspace.com and Classmates.com, showing another James Madison who resembled the suspected and who listed his age and town the same.
Both featured photos of the man wearing baseball hats.
He did not seem to be an active user of either account. The last Myspace login was in June 2006, when he would have been living in a halfway house.
The FBI tried to verify whether the pages in fact belonged to the same James Madison, said Special Agent Sean Quinn, a spokesman for the FBI's Newark office.
The bank robberies by the man who became known as the "Mad Hatter" began a few months later, after Madison left the halfway house.
Madison was released from prison in 2005 after serving 18 years for killing his girlfriend in 1986.
Looking people up on Myspace has also become a popular investigative tool for authorities.
"For us, there's not going to be much evidentiary value unless we can confirm that the hat he's wearing is the right hat," Quinn said.
"His statement the other day, 'I don't wear hats,' will clearly be trumped by a picture of him wearing a hat," Quinn added.
In recent days, the suspect has declined jailhouse interview requests. The public defender representing him did not immediately return calls Tuesday.
Madison has been charged with only one bank robbery, but authorities say they suspect him in 17 others committed in New Jersey since last fall.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
