Kentucky police are investigating a man accused of ‘Zoom bombing’ a virtual classroom and throwing racial insults at fifth graders from black neighborhoods before they threatened to execute him.
Prosecutors say that Brian Adams (45) launched a racist tirade in a Harvey classroom of predominantly black students at Laureate Academy Charter School, Harvey, Louisiana, during a lesson via Zoom on October 14, 2020. Nola.com reported.
Adams accessed the virtual lesson without permission under the handle ‘alex jones’ – a nod to the right-wing radio host – and told the children, ‘You all are a bunch of dirty n****s,’ federal court documents filed this month in New Orleans allege.
Prosecutors claim that Brian Adams (pictured), 45, went on a racist tirade towards a class of predominantly black students at Harvey’s Laureate Academy Charter School.
Adams’ alleged tirade prompted students at Laureate Academy Charter School to cover their eyes, ears, and cry.
According to prosecutors, the defendant said that he was going to hang him by the tree. Students covered their eyes with their ears, and began crying.
Even though he had been banned by teachers and created another virtual class, the prosecutors claimed that he still managed to log in to it. Adams continued to rant until Adams was removed permanently.
Two days of classes were canceled at Harvey school after Adams’s ‘Zoom bombing.
Students sent school officials a YouTube clip they found about the incident, which was posted to a page called “Arch Angel Gaming”. You could also find videos on the site of someone searching for images of swastikas.
There has been an increase of ‘Zoombombing’ since the start of lockdown in January.
The ‘alexjones’ handle of Adams allowed investigators to locate Adams. On November 3, 2021 they raided Adams’ Paintsville, Kentucky house where he lived.
Adams was questioned and he admitted to the Zoom-bombing incident.
Prosecutors said that he confessed to taking over $1,000 in electronics from Best Buy Rewards points.
Adams was not indicted by the federal government for a crime. But court documents show that Adams was suspected of several federal crimes. These include interference with federally-protected activities, wire fraud and threatening interstate communication, according to nola.com.
Zoom released two security measures in November 2020 less than one month after the incident. These features allow users to quickly report or remove disruptive gatecrashers.
This feature allowed guests to suspend meetings or eject Zoombombers from their meeting by clicking the “suspend participant activity” button under the security icon. A security badge was added to allow hosts to directly report any troublesome users.