By Tim Binnall
A trio of Russian influencers are undoubtedly in for quite the culture shock after an ill-advised prank led to them being sentenced to more than three years in an overcrowded and rather spartan penal colony. The incident in question (which can be seen below) reportedly occurred in March of last year when the young men hailed a rideshare service to come and get them. The call seemed normal at first as two of the mischievous social media mavens got into the vehicle and asked the driver to open his trunk for their companion. While the man was distracted, they suddenly took off with the vehicle as the third member of the crew filmed the 'hilarious' scene unfold.
Alas, for the young men, it would appear that the joke wound up being on them as the distraught rideshare driver promptly called police to report that his vehicle had been stolen. Although they were only gone for a few minutes and returned the vehicle shortly thereafter with what one assumes was a proverbial 'gotcha' aimed at their unwitting victim, by then the tables had turned on the pranksters as cops were soon on the scene and found the entire affair to be no laughing matter. Following a trial last week, the men received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence to be served "in a general regime penal colony."
While the specific facility where the men will spend their next few years is uncertain, it is thought that they will likely wind up in a prison camp approximately 300 miles from Moscow. In what one can only imagine will be a nightmarish experience for the influencers, who regularly boasted about their lavish lifestyle online, the fifty-year-old penal colony houses a whopping 800 prisoners housed in barracks that are at double their original capacity and feature just one bathroom per 100 prisoners. One can only wonder what the young men are thinking today as they smartly left social media shortly after they pulled off the ill-advised prank that put them in prison.