YouTube Pranksters Stokes Twins Plead Guilty to Staging Fake Bank Robberies

The brothers dressed in black clothing and ski masks and carried duffle bags full of cash as they pretended to flee from a bank robbery in 2019.

YouTube Pranksters Stokes Twins Plead Guilty to Staging Fake Bank Robberies

Photo Credit: YouTube/ Stokes Twins

The Stokes brothers had falsely presented themselves as criminals who had just robbed a bank

Highlights
  • The brothers boast nearly 7 million subscribers on YouTube
  • The 23-year-old brothers were originally charged with one felony count
  • Those charges carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison
Advertisement

YouTube stars Alan and Alex Stokes, twins known for provocative video gags, have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from two fake bank robberies they staged in California, one of which led to police drawing their guns on the brothers' unsuspecting Uber driver.

The 23-year-old brothers were originally each charged with one felony count of false imprisonment by violence, menace or fraud, and two misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting an emergency in connection with the October 15, 2019, pranks in the city of Irvine.

Those charges carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

But the brothers accepted a bargain offered by the judge reducing the felony count to a misdemeanor and imposing a more lenient sentence - probation and 160 hours of community service - in return for a guilty plea.

The judge also ordered the brothers, who boast nearly 7 million subscribers on YouTube, to stop making videos mimicking criminal behavior, the district attorney's office said.

The plea was entered in court Tuesday over the objection of prosecutors who felt the tougher charges were warranted given the potential danger to the community, Kimberly Edds, the district attorney's spokeswoman, said on Wednesday. A similar stunt in Tennessee last February ended with the prankster fatally shot by his "victim," she said.

In the Stokes case, the brothers dressed in black clothing and ski masks and carried duffle bags full of cash as they pretended to flee from a bank robbery, while their videographer recorded the stunt.

The brothers hailed an Uber, whose operator refused to drive them, all of which an onlooker took for a carjacking in progress. Police arrived and ordered the Uber driver out of his vehicle at gunpoint before realizing it was a gag.

The officers let the Stokes brothers go with a warning, but they repeated the stunt four hours later at a university campus and were arrested, prosecutors said.

© Thomson Reuters 2021


Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, has a double bill this week: the OnePlus 9 series, and Justice League Snyder Cut (starting at 25:32). Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: YouTube
PlayStation Plus Free Games Announced for April – Days Gone, Oddworld: Soulstorm, Zombie Army 4: Dead War
Samsung Galaxy F02s, Galaxy F12 India Launch Set for April 5; Key Specifications Listed on Flipkart
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »