Mad convict files suit against Rockstar News • News • Eurogamer.net

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Wants restraining order on GTA games.

Bonkers convict Jonathan Lee Riches has filed for a temporary restraining order against Take-Two, Rockstar, and the "newest Grand Theft Auto games", claiming inmates who played the titles will knock him out and steal his "gold Jesus cross".

The 31 year-old law-breaker ended up behind bars for committing identity theft, which is another thing he blames the successful games for.

"Plaintiff seeks a restraining order against the newest Grand Theft Auto games," wrote Riches.

"Defendants contributed to Plaintiff committing identity theft. Defendants games shows [sic] sex, drugs, and violence which offends me.

"Defendants put me in prison. I face imminent danger from violent inmates who played Grand Theft Auto who will knock me out and take my gold Jesus cross," he added.

Riches also filed against Activision claiming its games "promotes [sic] violence and hate and racism in prison", which makes him fear for his own life. Atari, another of his targets, has sexually explicit games that offend him as well.

Interestingly, Riches has been denied access to videogames while in prison, which he feels is discrimination.

Jonathan Lee Riches has filed more than 1500 lawsuits this year, according to GameSpot. Our favourite was his attempt to win USD 63 billion from an NFL star, claiming the Football player had ties to Al Qaeda after he was linked to an illegal dog fighting operation.

He has also unsuccessfully filed suits against Christian Slater, Star Wars, Martha Stuart, George W. Bush, Steve Jobs and Britney Spears, according to Wikipedia.

Okey dokey.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

Comments (38) Latest comment 4 years ago

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Eraysor #1 4 years ago

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Never has "rofl" been more appropriate.
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BeachGaara #2 4 years ago

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Suing Vick... that's not so bad...
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symmetry #3 4 years ago

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Has he won any of those 1500 law suits?
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Johnson #4 4 years ago

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Finally, someone Jack Thompson can point to and say "Look, I'm not that crazy".
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Xerx3s #5 4 years ago

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I think I'm going to sue you all just for the fun of it.
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hula hoops #6 4 years ago

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Surely filing lawsuits costs money, no?

I mean, if it is free ... courts will be overwhelmed with so much nonsense as these.
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KingOfIceland #7 4 years ago

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I like this guy, I hope we'll see more of him
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Goodfella #8 4 years ago

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Do you have any news that isn't at least 3 days old, Eurogamer?
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the_dudefather #9 4 years ago

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how does one sue 'St Patrick's day'?
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Darren #10 4 years ago

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You know I have no sympathy for this guy whatsoever: he committed a crimem was caught and now he's quite rightly paying for it. I hope someone does beat him up... daily... and steal his cross; prison is supposed to be a bad place to be isn't it not a five-star hotel! LOL

Edited by 1 at 21/04/08 @ 11:21
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MBar #11 4 years ago

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W.

T.

F?
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Monkey_Puncher #12 4 years ago

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hahahahaha

What a joker!
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poloman #13 4 years ago

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i would love to see rockstar take the piss out of this guy in gta4 somehow lol rofl indeed
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Fab4 #14 4 years ago

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Mad as a box of spanners.
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JJrabbit #15 4 years ago

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@mrmrc84
"Final Fantasy 7, for allowing my mother to save over my game with her own when I was 30 hours in and she'd just started."

:-/ I know the feeling when you load up that train scene at the beginning again after having gotten a *lot* further. Not good.
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JonFE #16 4 years ago

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"I hope someone does beat him up... daily... and steal his cross; prison is supposed to be a bad place to be isn't it not a five-star hotel!"

Why stop there though? Why not rape him in the process?? Or even worst???

I usually enjoy your comments Darren, but hope you aren't serious here. Prison, surely, should not be a 5-star hotel, but should reform people and prevent being a crime playground for inmates...

Edited by 1 at 21/04/08 @ 11:03
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mingster #17 4 years ago

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Obviously its free to file these lawsuits...
Some of the ones he's filed (infact most) are hilarious.
He's picked on most high paid sport stars the Tiger woods one is a classic.
"Tiger woods stole my luggage"

Edited by 1 at 21/04/08 @ 11:15
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chrisjm #18 4 years ago

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'Do you have any news that isn't at least 3 days old, Eurogamer? '

recycling old news is good for the environment
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Darren #19 4 years ago

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@JonFE - Of course I'm being serious. If someone goes through hell in prison then it'll hopefully make them think twice about reoffending. If it isn't then what's to stop this person doing the same again once he's freed? I'm not convinced that everyone can be reformed myself anyway and that they should be punished harshly by being in prison. I get the impression that prisons are not horrible enough places to be in these days, thanks to inferring do gooders with their Human Rights crap!
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mingster #20 4 years ago

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This guy is frickin hilarious:
Apart from suing governments for quadrillions of dollars check these ones out against sportstars:
Riches dunked over Michael Jordan in high school.
Jordan had someone bust his kneecap. (He doesn�t specify whether it was he or Jordan who was in hs at the time).
The defendants picked on Riches in high school, committing acts like tying Riches� shoes together, putting bubblegum on his bicycle seat, and stealing his lunch money to buy performance enhancing drugs.
Defendants took fruit away from the prison commissary?!
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Redeye #21 4 years ago

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Mentalissimo!
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Tiny_Tim #22 4 years ago

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@ Darren
Too right, my grandaddy always said the best treatment for schizophrenic episodes is a course of repeated bullying and gang rape sustained over several years in a metal dungeon, he'll think twice about dabbling with mental illness after that, boy howdy.
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Thamuhacha #23 4 years ago

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He's my nutter of the year so far.

He beats this guy pretty easily
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Fab4 #24 4 years ago

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I dont think they put people with Schizophrenia into normal prisons.
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Tiny_Tim #25 4 years ago

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They put some pretty fucked up people in there, clearly!
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MavSkipper #26 4 years ago

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ROFL.... and I thought Jack Thompson was #1.
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septimus #27 4 years ago

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Why do they let him carry on doing this? The US authorities can be so retarded sometimes.
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Fab4 #28 4 years ago

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Or they put in sneaky ones who might wish to manufacture a move to the ones where they put the nut-cases.

Edit: Sorry..not nut-cases...psychiatricly challenged.

Edited by 1 at 21/04/08 @ 12:15
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actionfitz #29 4 years ago

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Think I might sue this guy.
He made hot coffee come out my nose in a mildly career-threating manner this morning... (had to explain that I was reading Eurogamer and not working :/ ).
/slap
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Arwin #30 4 years ago

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He doesn't sound mad, actually.

Just very bored!
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Tiny_Tim #31 4 years ago

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@ Fab4

The fiends! maybe you should sue them?

Edited by 1 at 21/04/08 @ 13:00
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Thamuhacha #32 4 years ago

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>Why do they let him carry on doing this? The US authorities can be so retarded sometimes.

Ironically, he would probably win the case if he sued them for witholding his right to sue people
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anomagnus #33 4 years ago

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While i think everyone should sue vick, the scumbag, this guy is wasting court time

more importantly, darren has a point, prison should be an awful experience

clearly something is wrong with the prison model, when so many people re-offend

if prison was like OZ, no one would ever commit a crime

god damn, i'm still terrified of jail after watching it
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Slamhound #34 4 years ago

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What.

The.

Fudgehog?
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djcool3005 #35 4 years ago

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Can I file a lawsuit against him for being an idiot?
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TriggerHippie #36 4 years ago

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This guy is awsome! He's just entertaining himself, and using the mess of shit system that allows everone to blame someone else for their problems and sue them for it.

Yoo can doo eeeet JL!
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CARL05 #37 4 years ago

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"i would love to see rockstar take the piss out of this guy in gta4 somehow lol rofl"

Strangely enough I think Ubisoft already have! I think I saw him walking around the streets in Assassin's Creed, pushing altair randomly as he walks past XD
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clockworkzombie #38 4 years ago

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Surely this person should be declared a vexatious litigator and banned from initiating a lawsuit until cleared by a psych board.
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