Social media influencer to serve 14 years for stealing domain name at gunpoint

The social media influencer has over a million followers

The world of social media influencers can be competitive as well as daunting, the race to gain followers can often lead one to cross all limits.

One such story is of Rossi Lorathio Adams II, 27, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison over a plot to obtain a domain name at gunpoint.

Rossi has over a million followers and posts videos of students partying at Iowa State University on is website Doit4thestate.com.

In the quest to expand further, Rossi had been struggling for two years to buy the domain Doitforthestate.com but the owner kept refusing.

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Rossi decided to take matters in his own hands. After acquiring the domain owner’s address on GoDaddy’s registration records, Rossi and his convicted cousin Sherman Hopkins Jr broke into the house

Hopkins pistol-whipped the victim several times demanding the victim to transfer the domain to Rossi.

The victim was also shot several times in the chest and leg before he managed to gain control of the gun and called the police.

Both men survived the violent struggle and Hopkins was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Rossi shared disturbing content on his social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat which the US Attorney’s office described as "young adults engaged in crude behaviour, drunkenness, and nudity".

Initially, Rossi had a court-appointed lawyer but after investigation, it was discovered he had earned a significant amount of money while the case was pending.

Therefore, he has been ordered to repay the court $22,000 in legal fees.

This article originally published on BBC Tech.