Social media influencer gets 14-year sentence for plot to hijack domain name at gunpoint
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Social media influencer gets 14-year sentence for plot to hijack domain name at gunpoint
The man behind 'Do It For State' really wanted the name
WTF?! Some people will go to great lengths to secure a domain name, but one social media influencer turned to illegal means, earning himself a 14-year prison sentence. The US Department of Justice announced that 27-year-old Rossi Lorathio Adams II, aka "Polo," of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was so determined to obtain a domain name that he hired his cousin to break into the owner's home and threaten him at gunpoint.
Adams operated several accounts known as State Snaps across social media platforms, including Instagram and Snapchat, while he was at Iowa State University. Beginning in 2015, they allowed students to submit photos and videos of their college antics, which often involved drunkenness, nudity, and drug use. At one point, his Instagram account had over 1.5 million followers.
Many of the account followers used the slogan "Do It For State," prompting Adams' attempt to buy the domain "doitforstate.com" from a Cedar Rapids resident, Ethan Deyo, who Adams didn't know.
Despite repeatedly trying to purchase the domain name for two years, Deyo refused to sell, though he did once offer it for $20,000, but Adams felt the price was too high. The influencer then started using intimidation, sending a gun emoji to one of Deyo's friends.
The situation escalated in 2017 when Adams enlisted his cousin, convicted felon Sherman Hopkins, Jr, who at the time lived in a homeless shelter, to break into Deyo's home. He was to threaten him at gunpoint, forcing the owner to transfer his domain to Adams.
Carrying a phone, a stolen gun, and a taser, and wearing a hat, pantyhose on h