Hi Evanm484,
Dear member of SanDisk Community, welcome.
Please, do not grieve friend.
If still giving write protected, is that he died, ist kaputt…
Can return it. Contact SanDisk Technical Support who will replace the device, if it’s authentic and within warranty.
SanDisk Technical Support: http://www.sandisk.com/about-sandisk/contact-us/
To understand this problem, see link: http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/All-SanDisk-USB-Flash-Drives/HELP-how-do-i-reomove-write-protected-message-from-my-16gb-flash/m-p/323924#M8925
Luck.
Regards, Alfred. (Google translated)