My story on the dark-haired tourist with his blonde girlfriend who defaced the Roman Colosseum led to much outrage as well as a fair amount of amateur sleuthing on who “Ivan” might be. Turns out the culprit is a Bulgarian national living in the United Kingdom, not an American who faced threats of violence and death over a shared name and resemblance to the actual perpetrator.
Blessed Internet: Doxxing The Innocent American Doppelgänger Of Thug Who Defaced Roman Colosseum
We’ll get to the actual thug in a moment, but first let’s focus on the American couple who shared the same given names as what were craved into the ancient edifice in Rome. “The internet” tracked a couple down using a wedding registry who shared the name Ivan and Hayley. They even looked similar. Was it plausible that it was them? Sure. But what followed was not only doxxing, but calls to protest in front of their house, knock on their door, and even hurt them in retaliation.
Small problem: that’s not the way the law works, even if they were the vandals. But they weren’t! Let this be a lesson to all of us to exercise extreme caution in making accusations and to refrain from doxxing because there are some very real consequences for doing so, as the American couple who were unwittingly pulled into this conflict will attest.
Ivan Dimitrov In A Heap Of Trouble
Now, let’s move to the actual culprit. Bulgarian national Ivan Dimitrov, 27, has been identified as the culprit. Dimitrov is a fitness instructor and lives in the United Kingdom. His girlfriend is Hayley Bracey, 33.
Asked if was them, Bracey’s mother said, “No, that can’t be right. She wouldn’t do anything like that. She’s on holiday in Italy. Ivan is her partner, and they are both away.”
Uh…
He has sent an “apology letter” the Mayor of Rome. What is this, primary school?
“It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument.”
And as View From The Wing notes, Dimitrov’s lawyer has come up wtih a rather unusual defense:
“The boy is the prototype of the foreigner who frivolously believes that anything is allowed in Italy, even the type of act which in their own countries would be severely punished.”
He’s certainly not an archetype…
CONCLUSION
My most important takeaway from this story is that we should be careful before making accusations.
But after such a clear video, the culprit was identified as Ivan Dimitrov and now faces both civil and criminal penalties in Italy. Meanwhile, his lawyer just says he was an ignorant foreigner.
I’m still thinking hard labor is the best punishment along with a permeant ban on visiting Italy after that time.
Wait didn’t a couple of goons that post here claim it had “to be an American”. Laughable imbeciles. Of course, the simpletons won’t admit their errors….. They never do.
@ Brandon
I completely own my part in finding a couple that looked remarkably similar. As to anyone insisting “they had to be Americans”, I clearly don’t recall that happening.
Your bullying, name calling and uselessness tell us exactly who you are. Do not trouble yourself to respond.
Awe, poor fella. You think I bully? You are a special little person. Like the rest of your klan.
Got sent a post on reddit by a coworkers about how the “American” tourist was a complete idiot. Thanks for pointing this out because it seems like tens of thousands of people on the internet still think it’s the wrong person.
On a different note, that’s one of the worst defenses I’ve heard.
Remember that scene in “Casino” where DeNiro and his boys took a hammer to the hands of the guy they caught cheating at blackjack? Something to consider in this fellow’s case.
I like this one. A lot.
Lmao the comments section here was hard at work with the doxxing when this story broke out. That wasn’t “blessed”, that was “cursed.”
They are still here defending themselves for being wrong. It’s priceless.
We did NOT do it! Thanks, Matthew and derek.
Right, that’s what the article is about. You still should remove your last names from the post just to get a tiny bit of privacy despite it being invaded by the Internet already anyway.
We did NOT do it, either. Thanks, derek.
It is strange he did not know as back in 2015 we had similar viral case originating from… Bulgaria. If interested just google for благо джизъса колизеум
The “stupid a*hole” made by a passer-by seems about right!
This moron will never go to Italy again.
Who cares.
Make the guy do a few years of prison with a monitored daily release where he goes around repairing damage to monuments done by other stupid tourists.
What he did is stupid, but seriously, what’s with the excessive punishment requests?
Easy, people seek anyway they can to punish men. They hate men so much that they want them dead over the pettiest of things. Low status men seek any way they can to get an advantage and kick other men down, to get m’ lady.
Mostly thanks to white knights and tradcons who are self loathing losers who want to project their frustration on other low status men.
If only white people cared about black people as much as they care about people doing harmless things to buildings.
Are you sure it wasn’t a dog Matthew, since they are to blame for everything?
Anyway, a lifetime expulsion from Italy would likely be impossible for this under EU law.
You’re saying if he is a Bulgarian citizen, he cannot be kept out? (versus UK citizen?)
This is correct. By nature of his Bulgarian nationality he has a right to be anywhere in the European Union at any time. This would be akin to California banning me because I cut down a redwood.
One look at that guy’s hair in the photo and I’m sure he doesn’t have any brain cells to spare.
Didn’t we have a full summer of rioting in 2020 where millions of vandals and violent criminals burned businesses, looted, and desecrated and destroyed historical monuments. I agree that the colosseum is more special, but anyone who criticizes this guy but ignores the people who vandalized hundred plus year old historical monuments has lost the plot. It seems vandalism based on a hate of White, Christian, and Pro freedom people is ok but not ok when it is a guy loving his girlfriend. Maybe if his girlfriend was non-binary or pan/Demi sexual people would be ok with it.
Not to mention the terrorist attack at the capital in which 2000 (with a cumulative tooth count of 2000) America hating terrorists desecrated the house of our government. Such a shame that they all didn’t get thrown in the ocean with bin laden
I’m curious as to why it is relevant at ALL to note that he has “dark skin” or that his girlfriend is blond? Dark skin in comparison to who? A northern European? He has a skin tone that could be Italian or Greek or most any Southern European. I hope this observation is just terrible journalism and laziness.
I noted his dark hair, not his dark skin…
So you’re saying a stupid act by a clueless tourist classifies him as a thug? You need to be careful how you throw these aggressive terms around.
He wasn’t clueless…
I agree Matt. Any adult who vandalizes any other property them their own is still a vandel. He is not a child. It was not his home. His apology is so lame. An attempted excuse to save his childish skin from a just punishment. Hayley is also guilty. She looks old enough to know about vandalism and what it means. She can think about it while he sits in jail.
I’m remembering my own “social media” clueless story. My wife took a photo of me carrying my infant daughter in a carrier on my chest facing forward. My friend immediately facebook messaged me in horror that my daughter was facing the wrong way and it was uncomfortable/wrong. As it turned out, my daughter could NEVER enjoy that carrier the “proper way” (facing me) without seeing forward so I rarely used it after that.
There are multiple idiot traditions that people have been doing for some time either on social media or to “show love” such as putting padlocks on bridges (which is messed up because the weight hurts the bridge) or carving their names into trees and such. Want to show love? Have him post pics on social media cooking her a fancy dinner or fixing her sink. Instead of flashing a diamond ring, she should show off how she redecorated his place. Why? That’s what me and my wife did!
Two bad crimes – the trashy hair and the vandalism
If they let this idiot back into the country, he’ll eventually try to tip over the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
Funny thing is that the UNESCO former general director was also Bulgarian. What is more significant is the damage done to UNESCO artifacts and sites in Syria, by ISIS. Tourists defacing bricks in Rome is just poor taste, most of those bricks are probably not original anyway and the colosseum has probably been restored many times.