CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA — A social media influencer from Iowa is looking at 20 years in the pen for a harebrained scheme to hijack someone's domain name.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Iowa, Rossi Lorathio Adams II was convicted of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats and violence last Thursday.
According to the statement, 26-year-old Adams founded a social media company "State Snaps" and at one point had over a million followers over the typical sites.
According to ABC News, the sites mostly had images and clips of young adults acting intelligently, booze and birthday suits, often with the tag "Do It For State!"
The statement said when Adams tried to buy the internet domain "doitforstate.com", he found out someone in Cedar Rapids had already registered it on GoDaddy.com.
After the owner turned down repeated offers from Adams between 2015 and 2017 to buy the domain, Adams took to sending gun emojis to one of the owner's friends who used the domain to promo a concert.
The social media influencer then came up with a horrible plan to get his cousin to try and force the owner at gunpoint to give the domain to Adams.
Let's just say THAT plan failed after his cousin ended up getting blasted in the chest by his own gun.
The cousin was sentenced to 20 years in June 2018. Adams is now in custody and looking at 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
