Muriel Schwenck
Beloved Curmudgeon
19 April 2019
13 June 2018
[…]
Rossi Lorathio Adams II, age 26, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, also known as “Polo,” was convicted of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence. The verdict was returned after about an hour of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed that Adams founded the social media company “State Snaps” while a student at Iowa State University in 2015. State Snaps operates on a variety of social media platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. At one time, Adams had over a million followers on his social media sites, which mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity.
[…]
Adams’ followers often used the slogan, “Do It For State!” Adams tried to purchase the Internet domain “doitforstate.com” from a Cedar Rapids resident who had registered the domain with GoDaddy.com. Between 2015 and 2017, Adams repeatedly tried to obtain “doitforstate.com”, but the owner of the domain would not sell it.
[…]
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. Hopkins was a convicted felon who lived in a homeless shelter at the time.
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.
[…]
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.
[…]
Adams was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the verdict was returned and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Adams faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
[…]
13 June 2018
A federal felon who entered a Cedar Rapids home armed with a stolen firearm and pistol-whipped and Tased its owner was sentenced today to twenty years in prison in federal court in Cedar Rapids. Sherman Hopkins, Jr., age 43, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a December 2017 guilty plea to one count of interference and attempted interference with commerce by threats and violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951. The case is the first Hobbs Act Extortion prosecution in the district involving the attempt to steal an Internet domain name.
At the plea hearing and in a plea agreement, Hopkins admitted that on June 21, 2017, he entered the victim’s home and assaulted the victim in an attempt to obtain the victim’s property, specifically, the Internet domain “doitforstate.com.” Hopkins carried and brandished a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol, which was stolen from Michigan in 2014.
[…]