WHAT IN THE WORLD?! Social Media Influencer Sentenced To 14 Years In Jail For Plotting to Steal Domain Name At Gunpoint!

Social media will have folks doing crazy things. A social media influencer is now going to prison for a long time over some foolishness he did over a domain site. Deets inside…

Social media influencers have been taking over the world since social media became such an integral part of our lives. But one influencer has found himself behind bars for taking ish WAY too far.

Rossi Lorathio Adams II was given a 14-year prison sentence for his role in a plot to steal a domain at gunpoint. Lordt!

According to reports, the social media influencer – who also is known as Polo – was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence in April.

In 2015, Rossi started a company called “State Snaps” while he was a student at Iowa State. He took “State Snaps” to Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat where he would post NSFW flicks and videos of college students partying it up. According to the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Iowa, Rossi (who is now 27) would post his content using the hashtag #DoItForState.

His “State Snaps” sites “mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity,” prosecutors said.

Apparently, Rossi wanted to buy “doitforstate.com,” but was unsuccessful. Between 2015 and 2017, Adams repeatedly tried to obtain “doitforstate.com,” but the owner of the domain would not sell it.

In June 2017, Rossi allegedly hired his homeless cousin, Sherman Hopkins, Jr., to break into the domain owner’s home and force him at gunpoint to transfer doitforstate.com to Rossi. It’s reported Rossi’s cousin was a convicted felon who lived in a homeless shelter at the time.

We --- can't.

Here’s what happened once the cousin got victim’s home (via press release):

The victim was upstairs and heard Hopkins enter the home. From the top of a staircase, the victim saw Hopkins with the gun on the first floor. Hopkins shouted at the victim, who then ran into an upstairs bedroom and shut the door, leaning up against the door to stop Hopkins from entering.

Hopkins went upstairs, kicked the door open, grabbed the victim by the arm and demanded to know where he kept his computer. When the victim told Hopkins that he kept his computer in his home office, Hopkins forcibly moved the victim to the office. Hopkins ordered the victim to turn on his computer and connect to the Internet. Hopkins pulled out Adams’ demand note, which contained a series of directions on how to change an Internet domain name from the domain owner’s GoDaddy account to one of Adams’ GoDaddy accounts.

Hopkins put the firearm against the victim’s head and ordered him to follow the directions on the demand note. Hopkins then pistol whipped the victim several times in the head. Fearing for his life, the victim quickly turned to move the gun away from his head. The victim then managed to gain control of the gun, but during the struggle, he was shot in the leg. The victim shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest. He then contacted law enforcement.

Wow!

In addition to his 14-year sentence, Rossi was ordered to make nearly $9,000 in restitution as well as pay costs of prosecution in the amount of $3,957.45 and to repay the Court $22,000 in attorney fees. Rossi's cousin was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2018.

After serving his federal prison term, Rossi must also serve a three-year term of supervised release.

Bruh. It’s never this serious.

Photo: Linn County Correctional Center

source: theybf