Domain hijacker going to jail.
A would-be domain hijacker who founded State Snaps, a social media influencing corp, was sentenced to 14 years in prison today.
Rossi Lorathio Adams II, aged 27, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, also known as “Polo,” received the prison term after an April 18, 2019, jury verdict found him guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence.
Adams founded the social media company “State Snaps” as an Iowa State University student in 2015. State Snaps operated on a variety of social media platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. Adams claimed to have well over a million followers on his social media accounts, which mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity.
According to the Department of Justice, Rossi Lorathio Adams II was sentenced today to 14 years in federal prison. He was accused of instructing his cousin to break into a Cedar Rapids man’s home and order him at gunpoint to transfer the domain name Doitforstate.com.
In evidence provided during the court hearing, on June 21, 2017, Adams drove Hopkins to the domain owner’s house and provided Hopkins with a demand note, which contained instructions for transferring the domain to Adams’ 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 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.
Adams is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
