Social media influencer Rossi Lorathio Adams II has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in a plot to steal a domain name at gunpoint.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa announced Monday in Edens’ sentencing that he was convicted of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence in April.
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The case came to light in 2015 when Add Ons-also known as “Polo” started a company called State Photos while he was a student at Iowa State.
The company’s claim to fame was posting a request image of wild partying college students on its Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat feeds. The state of Iowa was not pleased, according to the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Iowa, but Edons, now 27, continued posting, often using the hashtag #DoItForState.
According to court records, Adams had more than 1,000,000 followers on his social channels at the height of the state’s success. Although he already owned the DoIt4State.com domain, he wanted to buy DoItForState.com as well. Problem? The URL was not for sale. When the owner of the Cedar Rapids-based domain refused to sell it, Edens plagiarized it instead of a violent plan, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Things took a turn in June 2014 when Edwards asked his cousin Sherman Hopkins Jr. to break into the domain owner’s house — identified only as “ED” in court filings — and try to steal the domain name at gunpoint. According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Adams received the owner’s address through GoDaddy registration records.
The news release stated that Adams had “provided a demand note to Hopkins, which included instructions to transfer the domain to Adams’s GoDaddy account.”
Court records show that Hopkins was wearing pantyhose over his head, as well as a hat and sunglasses, and was carrying a taser as well as a stolen gun.
Upon entering the victim’s home, Hopkins kicked down the bedroom door to the domain owner, who was heard breaking into him and tried to hide. Hopkins ordered the victim to follow the instructions on the demand note before the pistol — punishing him in the head and holding a gun to his head, the release states.
The victim attempted to wrestle the gun away from Hopkins and was later shot in the leg — but the victim also managed to shoot Hopkins in the chest several times before calling the police.
In addition to his 14-year sentence, Edons was also ordered to pay costs of the sum for $ 3,957, which is the prosecution, along with making approximately $ 9,000 in damages. According to the United States Attorney’s Office, he has also been ordered to pay the court $ 22,000 in attorney fees.
Edwards is currently being held in United States Marshal custody until he is taken to federal prison.
In 2016 Hopkins was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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