Attorneys for TikTok stars Alan and Alex Stokes are pushing back against allegations that the twins broke the law while filming a YouTube prank video about a fake Irvine bank robbery that drew a police response.
The defense attorneys now contend that the brothers – who have pleaded not guilty to charges of felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor falsely reporting an emergency – have been wrongfully accused, and say the public nature of the allegations has complicated their ability to make a living.
“This is an incident that has really had an impact on them, and it’s our feeling that there were assumptions made or conclusions that were jumped to,” said Matthew Wallin, one of the attorneys representing the brothers. “People’s lives can be ruined by the discretion given to the prosecutor’s office to levy charges.”
The defense attorneys acknowledge that the brothers were filming a video for their YouTube channel on the afternoon of Oct. 15, 2019 when bystanders mistakenly believed a crime occurred and called 911.
Prosecutors allege that the brothers – dressed in back, wearing ski masks and carrying duffel bags full of cash – pretended like they had just robbed a bank, while their videographer filmed them.
According to prosecutors, the brothers ordered an Uber, but the driver refused to drive them anywhere. When Irvine police arrived, they ordered the Uber driver out of the car at gunpoint, before releasing him after learning he hadn’t committed a crime.
The officers let the Stokes brothers go with a warning, but prosecutors allege that four hours later they carried out a similar prank at the UC Irvine campus. The brothers were not arrested.
In announcing the charges filed against the brothers last month, District Attorney Todd Spitzer said the incidents “were not pranks,” but instead “crimes that could have resulted in someone getting seriously injured or even killed.”
The “Stokes Twins” YouTube page has nearly 5 million followers, while their TikTok account has more than 25 million followers. A video entitled “Bank Robbery Prank! (goes wrong)” that appears to show the incidents cited by the DA’s office was previously posted on their YouTube page, but does not appear to be available any longer.
The video showed the brothers running around the college campus asking bystanders for help finding, or robbing a bank, and depicted an Uber driver kicking them out of his car. It also showed an officer telling one of the twins, “You’ve got to be smarter. You know better.”
Wallin acknowledged that some of the things shown on the video can’t be disputed, though he denied that they amounted to crimes. The defense attorney also raised the possibility that the video had been choreographed and planned, though he declined to say whether any of the apparent bystanders depicted in the video were in on the prank.
“It isn’t always clear when you watch what steps were taken,” Wallin said. “These things are generally planned, they are not done on a whim.”
The defense attorneys did not make the brothers themselves available for comment. The twins currently are out of custody on their own recognizance, according to court records.
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TikTok twin stars Alan and Alex Stokes deny a crime was committed in Irvine YouTube prank - OCRegister
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