3 Dumbest Periscope Crimes

All rape is bad. Raping a person is bad and witnessing a rape and doing nothing makes you a bad person. But witnessing a rape and deciding, "Yeah, I need to livestream this" makes you a bad and dumb person.

Raymond Boyd Gates is the bad person who allegedly raped a 17-year-old. Marina Alexeevna Lonina is the bad and dumb person who allegedly livestreamed the rape on Periscope. Fortunately, both bad people are currently in jail and have been indicted for crimes that could keep them there for 40 years.

Stream of Criminal Behavior

The victim was apparently a friend of Lonina's, whom she had photographed nude the night before at her house. According to Columbus, Ohio prosecutors, the next night Gates forced sexual intercourse with the victim while Lonina fired up the Periscope app and started livestreaming the assault.

Another friend of Lonina's watched the Periscope footage from another state and contacted law enforcement. Gates and Lonina have each been indicted on two counts of rape and pandering a sexually-oriented matter involving a minor, and Lonina also picked up additional counts for photographs from the night before.

Not the Brightest Bulbs

Lonina, sadly, is not the only bad and dumb person with criminal motives and access to Periscope. Here are three of the dumbest Periscope crimes (other than this one):

1. The time a convicted murderer Periscoped his chill life in prison, asking for contributions to his GoFundMe page.
2. The time a drunk woman Periscoped her drive home from the bars and police found her minutes later, driving on a flat tire.
3. The time two teens Periscoped their ice cream heist from a semi trailer.

So if you're going to be a bad person who does crime, you should probably not be a bad and dumb person who Periscopes it for all the world to see.

Related Resources:

• Woman Charged With Live-Streaming Teen's Rape on Periscope (Ars Technica)
• Can a YouTube Video Send You to Jail? (FindLaw Blotter)
• Cell Phones in Prison Can Organize, Livestream Riots (FindLaw Blotter)
• Joyriding With Owl: Fla. Man Busted for Ridin' with Protected Species (FindLaw's Legally Weird)