Brandon Klayme lost 18 months of his life because of a single username typo in a police investigation

When police began searching for an online account tied to a criminal investigation, they believed they had found the person they were looking for. The account belonged to Brandon Klayme, a Canadian man who was later convicted on child sex abuse charges despite investigators having traced the wrong username.

According to Android Authority, the mistake came down to a single missing character in a police subpoena. Authorities were searching for the Kik username fus__roh_dah but instead entered fus_roh_dah, linking them to Klayme’s account rather than the actual suspect’s.

The error remained unnoticed through Klayme’s trial and only came to light during his appeal. A Nova Scotia court later overturned his conviction, ruling that the case against him was built on the incorrect username connection.

It is hard to imagine one missing character could put an innocent man behind bars

The investigation began when US authorities searched for a Kik username connected to a criminal case. Because of the missing underscore, investigators were directed to Klayme, a Canadian citizen whose account had no connection to the alleged offenses.

After discovering the account belonged to someone outside the United States, authorities shared the information with Canadian police. Officers searched Klayme’s home and seized his devices, but investigators found no evidence connecting him to the crimes. They also discovered that he had not used Kik during the period when the offenses were believed to have occurred.

Despite the lack of evidence, Klayme was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He completed the sentence before the username mistake was properly examined during his appeal.

Klayme later explained in an affidavit that the error was uncovered while preparing his appeal. The subpoena used during the investigation contained the incorrect username, missing the extra underscore that separated his account from the actual suspect’s account.

The Nova Scotia court ultimately ruled that the conviction was based entirely on the mistaken username connection. Judges found that Klayme should not have been charged and noted that Kik subscriber information pointed investigators toward a different person who may have been located in California.