Feuds between neighbors have been known to get ugly. This one just got stupid.
Earlier this week, Vincent Ardolf of Blaine, MN, confessed to hacking into Matthew and Bethan Kostolnik’s wireless Internet connection to send child porn and threats to politicians in their name. His neighbors had accused him in 2008 of kissing their 4-year-old son and called police. While no charges were filed, Ardolf’s animosity stayed.
In February, 2009, he hacked the Kostolnik’s WiFi and created Yahoo! and MySpace accounts in Matthew’s name. There, he posted the child porn on MySpace and sent the pictures to Kostolnik’s coworkers. His plan culminated with an email threatening the life of Vice President Joe Biden and two Minnesota politicians.
“This is a terrorist threat! Take this seriously. I hate the way you people are spending money you don’t have,” the email read.
“I’m assigning myself to be judge jury and executioner. Since you folks have spent what you don’t have it’s time to pay the ultimate price. Time for new officials after you all are put to death by us.”
To add to Ardolf’s resume for the Darwin Awards is the fact that he was offered a plea bargain before going to trial that would have given him a 10-year maximum sentence. Now, after pleading guilty two days into the trial, he faces up to 42 years.
You have no idea what the Darwin Awards are for, do you?