00:00A French influencer has been jailed after he filmed himself playing a twisted prank
00:16on random bystanders in which he made them think they'd been injected with a mystery substance.
00:21Elon M, who goes by the online moniker Amine Mojito, shared the videos which went viral
00:27in June, just before the country's World Music Day.
00:30At the time, France had been shaken by recent unfounded rumors of syringe needle spiking
00:35attacks at festivals and parties.
00:38As a result, people were outraged when they saw the influencer post the footage of himself
00:43pretending to stab multiple horrified pedestrians with an empty needle.
00:47The 27-year-old was arrested shortly after the videos went viral and was kept in solitary
00:51confinement for his safety during his pre-trial detention for nearly two months.
00:57In court, prosecutors described Mojito as a public menace for the fear he caused to numerous
01:02people seen in the clips, who told the court they experienced genuine panic after thinking
01:07they'd been injected with an unknown substance.
01:10Prosecutors also alleged that Mojito's viral prank may have caused the phenomenon to become
01:14a reality.
01:16During the World Music Day festival in June, police received 145 reports of needle spiking,
01:21however few cases were confirmed.
01:24The defendant told the court,
01:26I didn't think it could hurt people, that was my mistake, I didn't think about others,
01:30I thought about myself, according to French newspaper Liberation.
01:34Mojito also said the twisted stunt was intended to draw a buzz for an online physical exercise
01:39program and to revamp his online persona.
01:43Officers last month requested a sentence of 15 months in prison under electronic monitoring,
01:48including five months suspended.
01:51On Friday, the Paris criminal court sentenced Mojito to 12 months in prison, six of which
01:55were suspended, for violence with a weapon that did not result in incapacity for work,
02:01Liberation reported.
02:02He was also ordered to pay a fine of over $1,700 and is banned from owning or carrying a weapon
02:08for three years.
