A social media guru needed a domain name. He decided to get it at gunpoint.

By Kyle Swenson April 22 at 4:50 AM

Rossi Lorathio Adams II had big plans to turn risque photos and footage of drunken bad behavior into a social media empire.

In 2015, as a student at Iowa State University, Adams, who went by the nickname “Polo,” founded State Snaps, a series of social media accounts that showcased scantily clad women and pictures of partying college students — a mash up of “Girls Gone Wild” and MTV’s “Jackass.” Adams egged on his followers with State Snaps’s own catchphrase: “Do it for State!” The formula appeared to be working. On Instagram, State Snaps had gathered more than 1.5 million followers, and the accounts created enough stir that Iowa State administrators objected publicly to the content.

But according to federal authorities, Adams began to believe one roadblock was standing between State Snaps and Internet entrepreneurial success. Although the website was registered at doit4state.com, Adams could not pry the domain rights for doitforstate.com from an unnamed individual who owned the address.

The aggressive push for the sought-after domain name would lead Adams and an associate down a path of threats and intimidation to a bloody June 2017 incident involving gunshots and a Taser at a home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

According to the Justice Department, last week a jury found Adams, 26, guilty of charges related to the incident. He now could face up to 20 years in prison.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 19, 2019

Jury Convicts Social Media Entrepreneur in Plot to Hijack Internet Domain

Planned an Armed Home Invasion after Owner of “doitforstate.com” Refused to Sell

A man who enlisted his cousin to break into a Cedar Rapids man’s home and order him at gunpoint to transfer an Internet domain was convicted by a jury on April 18, 2019. The jury’s verdict followed a four-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

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. In 2015, a Des Moines area television station aired a news segment in which Adams, who in the interview would only identify himself as “Polo,” was continuing to operate his social media sites despite the objections of Iowa State University administrators and the policies of the social media platforms.

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. Adams also threatened one of the domain owner’s friends with “gun emojis” after the friend used the domain to promote concerts.

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.

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