Influencer Sentenced for Scary Syringe 'Prank'

A 27-year-old influencer has been sentenced to time in jail following an ill-considered syringe prank played on unsuspecting pedestrians, Libération reported.

Amine Mojito Has Been Sentenced to Prison

Amine Mojito, who’s known online as Ilan M., has been sentenced to six months in prison by the Paris Criminal Court. Mojito played a prank on unwitting passersby in which he pretended to inject them with a syringe. In June, the outlet reported a similar spate of crimes in which women at parties and music festivals were injected with an unknown substance. In court, Mojito claimed that he was "in his own world" and "didn't know anything” about the dangerous trend before deciding to embark on the prank.

Mojito Admitted It Was a 'Very Bad Idea'

"I had the very bad idea of ​​doing these pranks by imitating what I saw on the Internet, in Spain, in Portugal," he said in court. "I didn't think it could hurt people. That was my mistake, I didn't think about others, I thought about myself."

Mojito, who boasts over 130,000 followers on Instagram, has not posted on the platform since his June 26 arrest. A TikTok page registered to someone of the same name appears to have been deactivated. Prosecutors were seeking a 15-month sentence for Mojito, though he was inevitably sentenced to 12 months before six of those months were suspended. Mojito's lawyer, Marie Claret de Fleurieu, said that the ruling "brings the debates back into more proportion after the initial media frenzy" and "restores a little balance between the preservation of public order and that of the fundamental rights of [her] client.”