Police mixed up Skyrim usernames, sending an innocent man to prison for 18 months
Hennadiy Chemеris
A Canadian court has fully exonerated Brandon Klayme, who spent 18 months behind bars after police made a crucial mistake while investigating a Kik-related case. Investigators confused two nearly identical usernames inspired by the iconic Fus Ro Dah Dragon Shout from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
The investigation began in 2018 in Wisconsin. Police were trying to identify the owner of the Kik account fus__ro_dah (with two underscores after "fus"), but the subpoena sent to Kik mistakenly requested information for fus_ro_dah (with only one underscore). That account belonged to Klayme.
After receiving the account details from Kik, investigators traced Klayme to Nova Scotia, Canada. In February 2020, police searched his home and seized several phones and laptops.
According to Ars Technica, investigators found no evidence linking Klayme to the underage victim or the conversations at the center of the case. They also failed to establish that he had even used Kik during the period under investigation.
Despite that, Klayme was arrested and later convicted on three charges related to child luring, providing sexually explicit material to a minor, and possession of child sexual abuse material. In 2024, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and served the entire sentence.
The critical mistake was uncovered by attorney Zeb Brown while preparing Klayme's appeal and reviewing the original subpoena. Following the discovery, prosecutors agreed that the conviction should be overturned.
"In the latter stages of preparing my appeal arguments, it was discovered that the subpoena contained a subtle mistake that changed the course of my life. Instead of requesting details for the username ‘fus__ro_dah’, the subpoena requested details for the username ‘fus_ro_dah’. The police officer did not notice that the perpetrator’s Kik username ‘fus__ro_dah’ contains a double underscore. This discrepancy went completely unnoticed at the trial. It was never brought to the attention of the trial judge," Klayme said.
On July 23, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned all of Klayme's convictions and formally acquitted him.
"Mr. Klayme is factually innocent of these offences. He should never have been charged, let alone convicted," the court wrote in its ruling.
The court also noted that the correct username was present in the case materials during the original trial, yet no one noticed the extra underscore.
It remains unclear whether Klayme plans to seek compensation for the 18 months he spent in prison.
Previously, we also reported on how the U.S. Attorney's Office used GTA 6's style to troll criminals.
Do you think law enforcement agencies and governments should pay substantial compensation to people who end up in prison because of mistakes like this?
