OC Marine Who Stalked Pro 'World Of Warcraft' Gamer Sentenced

TRABUCO CANYON, CA — A former Marine from south Orange County was sentenced Thursday to two years behind bars for his part in an online harassment campaign directed at a professional online gamer.

Evan Baltierra, 30, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised released after he gets out of prison and pay $2,544 in restitution to the victim, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Baltierra pleaded guilty last year in Los Angeles to one count of stalking.

According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Baltierra met the victim — a well-known "World of Warcraft" gamer whose name was not released — at a convention in Anaheim in Nov. 2019.

After meeting, Baltierra asked to meet the woman in her hometown of Calgary, Canada, which made her feel uncomfortable, according to the statement. The victim then blocked Baltierra on social media, and in response, Baltierra made hundreds of new accounts to send the gamer threatening messages and spam her online video game stream.

One message sent to the victim via Twitter in January 2021 read in part, “[t]imes ticking…waiting for the right opportunity.”

In October 2020, Baltierra hired an unknown person to create photoshopped nude images of the victim that placed her face onto pornographic images, the statement said.

The images were posted onto multiple pornographic websites and internet forums, and were also sent to the victim's friends and family by Baltierra.

“Most concerning is defendant’s inability to stop his criminal behavior despite multiple opportunities to do so,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “After his actions led to a restraining order in March and April of 2021, defendant continued to harass and attempt to contact (the victim).”

In January 2021, Baltierra began posting the victim's personal information despite having a protective order served on him. He also began posting the gamer's Twitter handle to pornographic websites along with the photoshopped nude images he had created.

During the victim’s live streams of video games, Baltierra used multiple accounts to continually post harassing messages. His spamming of the victim forced her to stop streaming in February 2021.

In June 2021, two months after Baltierra and the victim reached a settlement in which he agreed to not contact her or her associates in exchange for the victim dissolving the temporary restraining order, Baltierra called the victim’s local police department.

According to authorities, Baltierra requested the police conduct a welfare check of the victim by lying to the police that the victim had made online threats to commit suicide.

Baltierra also attempted to obtain the victim’s home address during that phone call.

From January 2022 to March 2022, Baltierra sent threatening messages to the victim via various social media accounts, including one messages that read, “get a casket ready.”

In March 2022, Baltierra wrote a letter to the parents of the victim’s boyfriend, which stated, in part, that the situation was going to end badly for her, the statement said.

Baltierra continued to harass the victim after the FBI searched his residence, after he was criminally charged in this case, and after he pleaded guilty to a felony offense and was free on bond pending sentencing, the report said.

“Baltierra continued to post fake nude photographs of [the victim] and appeared to attempt to contact her online, leading to his arrest in September of 2022,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.