FBI agents arrested 29-year-old Evan Baltierra, 29 for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of harassment targeting the accuser, her boyfriend, her friends and her boyfriend's family. The accuser, a resident of Canada, is a prominent professional gamer in the community of “World of Warcraft,” a long-running and popular multiplayer online role-playing game. Baltierra faces one charge of stalking and could be sentenced, if convicted, to five years in prison.

            In November 2019, the accuser traveled to Anaheim to attend “Blizzcon,” an annual gaming convention that focuses on several video game franchises, including “World of Warcraft.” The accuser met Baltierra in person at a meet-and-greet with her fans at the Anaheim Convention Center. After the convention, Baltierra allegedly asked the accuser to be his “valentine.” She told him she had a boyfriend. Baltierra then allegedly expressed a desire to visit the accuser in Canada.  She declined his offer. 

            After learning from an online friend in June 2020 that Baltierra was trying to find out where she lived because he wanted to visit her, the accuser removed Baltierra as moderator of her stream channel and blocked him from her social media. Baltierra allegedly continued to contact the accuser via direct message on various platforms, including Twitter, Instagram and Reddit, and also via email. He allegedly contacted the accuser's boyfriend and her colleague via the same online platforms. Many of these messages contained threats of violence. Baltierra also allegedly created fictitious online profiles that displayed photographs of the accuser, including pornographic photographs where it appears that Baltierra photoshopped the accuser's face onto the photograph. He then sent the photoshopped pictures to the accuser's friends and family and regularly posted the photographed pictures on various internet chat rooms. 

            The accuser got a temporary restraining order against Baltierra in Orange County Superior Court in February 2021 and Baltierra signed an agreement in which he promised to end the harassment campaign, But Baltierra allegedly continued to stalk the victim.In March 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Baltierra's residence and seized several items, including a thumb drive that contained many photoshopped nude images with the accuser's face on them, and evidence on Baltierra's iPhone of email accounts with which he used to send the victim harassing messages. 

            Remember, every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.