Twin YouTube pranksters plead guilty to staging fake bank robberies

Alan and Alex Stokes

YouTube stars Alan and Alex Stokes, twins known for provocative video gags, have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from two fake bank robberies they staged in California, one of which led to police drawing their guns on the brothers' unsuspecting Uber driver. The 23-year-old brothers were originally each charged with one felony count of false imprisonment by violence, menace or fraud, and two misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting an emergency in connection with the Oct. 15, 2019, pranks in the city of Irvine. Those charges carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. But the brothers accepted a bargain offered by the judge reducing the felony count to a misdemeanor and imposing a more lenient sentence - probation and 160 hours of community service - in return for a guilty plea.