One Missing Underscore Sent Canadian Man To Prison And No One Noticed It For Years
A missing underscore in a subpoena led police to jail an innocent Canadian man for 18 months in a child-luring case.
· NDTVShow
Quick Read
Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed
- A Canadian man was wrongfully convicted due to a Kik username error in a child-luring case
- Wisconsin police subpoenaed Kik with the wrong username, leading to mistaken identity
- Brandon Klayme's devices showed no contact with the victim or use of Kik during the case period
Can he sue the police for the mistake they made?
A Canadian man lost precious years of his life after he was wrongfully accused and convicted in a child-luring case involving mistaken identity due to a missing underscore. In 2018, investigators in the US state of Wisconsin were probing a case involving a 12-year-old girl and an adult male who had contacted her on Kik Messenger. A forensic review of the girl's phone turned up 125 messages from an individual going by the username "fus__ro_dah," two underscores after "fus" (Fus Ro Dah is a famous magical dragon chant from the video game Skyrim).
When police subpoenaed Kik for the account details, they typed the username with only one underscore, "fus_ro_dah", instead of two. Kik matched the request to a different account and handed over an email address belonging to a Nova Scotia man, Brandon Klayme.
Since Klayme was based in Nova Scotia, Canada, the Wisconsin authorities contacted Halifax Police, which traced the address to Klayme's home. Officers searched his residence and seized his phones and laptops. The devices showed no contact with the girl, no explicit images, and no proof Klayme had even used Kik during the period in question, according to a report in ArsTechnica.
Subsequently, Klayme was arrested and charged with luring a minor, providing explicit material to a child and possessing child pornography. No one at the trial, either from the prosecution or the defence, managed to catch the username error. In the end, Klayme was sentenced to 18-months in prison in 2024.
Big Reveal
It was only while preparing his appeal that Klayme's defence team spotted the single-character error in the original subpoena. Once flagged, prosecutors reviewed the case and agreed that Klayme's appeal should be allowed.
The court noted that a proper investigation would have led to a different suspect entirely. A man named Jay, whose IP address was traced to California, was the original suspect who communicated with the minor.
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal quashed Klayme's conviction, stating he was "factually innocent" and "should never have been charged, let alone convicted." His sentence and probation were vacated.
Got a follow‑up question on this article? Go on
- How was the mistake discovered by his lawyers?
- Did Brandon Klayme receive any compensation for his time in prison?
- What happened to the real person who committed the crime?
How may i help you today
Show full article
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
Follow us:
Wrongful Conviction, Kik Messenger, Username Error