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Social media influencer gets 14 years in prison for plot to 'hijack' website at gunpoint
The man was convicted for plotting an armed home invasion to try and obtain the rights to doitforstate.com, an unsanctioned Iowa State University site.
A 27-year-old social media influencer was sentenced to federal prison Monday for an armed plot to threaten a man in an effort to obtain a website domain name.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...bsite-n1098721Adams started a social media brand called "State Snaps" in 2015 while attending Iowa State University, operating on various social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
"At one time, Adams had over a million followers on his social media sites, which mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity," the U.S. Attorney's office said.
When he attempted to buy the doitforstate.com in 2015, since many of his followers use the slogan “Do It For State!," he found it was already purchased.
The influencer made repeated efforts between 2015 and 2017 to obtain the domain name but the owner refused to sell the rights to doitforstate.com, according to prosecutors.
In June 2017, Adams asked his cousin, Sherman Hopkins, Jr., to break into the domain owner's home and threaten him at gunpoint until he complied. Adams drove his cousin, a convicted felon, to the house and provided him instructions on how to transfer the domain rights to his GoDaddy account.
"When Hopkins entered the victim’s home in Cedar Rapids, he was carrying a cellular telephone, a stolen gun, a taser, and he was wearing a hat, pantyhose on his head, and dark sunglasses on his face," the U.S. Attorney's office said.
The Influencer and the Hit Man
How a years-long domain name feud ended in a bloody shootout
https://onezero.medium.com/the-influ...n-6c3905efd3c3“Come here, motherfucker!” Deyo remembered the man screaming, pointing a gun at him. The gunman wore a baseball cap, had pantyhose pulled over his face, and sunglasses covered his eyes.
Deyo briefly raised his arms in surrender — then bolted into his bedroom. He slammed the door behind him and braced for impact. Moments later, the intruder kicked through the doorway and grabbed Deyo by the neck.
“Where’s your computer?” he demanded. According to Deyo’s courtroom testimony, he led the man across the hall and into his office with the gun now shoved into the small of his back. He sat down, the man opened up his MacBook Pro, and Deyo felt the gun move from his spine to the rear of his skull, the metal hard on his scalp.
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