Innocent Halifax man spent 18 months in jail over Skyrim username mix-up

A Halifax man spent 18 months in prison for a crime he didn’t commit because authorities misread his Skyrim-inspired username.

As reported by CBC News, Brandon Klayme was arrested in February 2020 by Halifax police in relation to an investigation by Wisconsin authorities into an individual who was exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 12-year-old girl.

Eventually, Wisconsin officers traced the suspect’s IP address to someone with the Kik username “fus__ro_dah,” a reference to one of the magical Shout abilities in Bethesda’s popular fantasy RPG Skyrim. However, authorities mistakenly flagged the nearly identical username fus_ro_dah, which belonged to Klayme and contained one underscore instead of two.

Naturally, Klayme maintained his innocence, especially as there was nothing else to tie him to the case. The victim gave police a description of the face of the man with whom she was allegedly messaging, but investigators said they weren’t able to conduct a thorough interview with her over it because she was receiving medical treatment for severe depression.

Despite no real evidence to link Klayme to the case, a Dartmouth provincial court ultimately found him guilty in an April 2023 trial of child luring, child pornography, and making sexually explicit material available to a child. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail with an additional 18 months of probation.

As CBC News reports, Klayme’s innocence was only proven earlier this year when his legal team discovered the discrepancy between the usernames. The correct username is believed to be tied to a man in California — quite a ways off from Nova Scotia.

“In these circumstances, Mr. Klayme is factually innocent of the offences. He should never have been charged, let alone convicted,” wrote the appeal panel. It’s unclear whether Klayme plans to seek any restitution over his wrongful imprisonment.

Image credit: Bethesda

Source: CBC News