Failed plot to steal domain name at gunpoint brings 14-year prison term

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An Iowa man who plotted to steal an Internet domain name at gunpoint was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison yesterday.

Rossi Lorathio Adams II, a former Iowa State University student who ran a social-media platform featuring "images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity," repeatedly tried to buy the "doitforstate.com" domain name from a resident of Cedar Rapids. But Adams refused to pay the domain-name owner's $20,000 asking price-and then things got weird.

"In June 2017, Adams enlisted his cousin, Sherman Hopkins Jr., to break into the domain owner's home and force him at gunpoint to transfer doitforstate.com to Adams," a Department of Justice press release said. Hopkins was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison as part of a plea agreement. More details are in the government's trial brief.

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