An Orange County man who admitted to stalking and harassing a professional video game player for several years has been sentenced to two years in federal prison, according to the United States Department of Justice.
Evan Baltierra, 30, of Trabuco Canyon, pleaded guilty last year to one count of stalking in connection with a yearslong harassment campaign against a Canadian woman who is a prominent member of the “World of Warcraft” community.
Despite his arrest, and after pleading guilty to the federal charges, he continued to harass the victim, the DOJ said.
Baltierra met the the unidentified victim in 2019, when she traveled to Anaheim to attend the annual gaming convention BlizzCon. Despite previous rejections and insistence that she had a boyfriend, Baltierra asked if he could visit her in her hometown in Canada, which she declined.
Eventually, the victim blocked Baltierra on social media and removed him as a moderator from her streaming channel. In response, he created hundreds of fake social media accounts with the sole purpose of harassing the victim, her boyfriend and members of her family.
As part of his plea deal in July 2022, Baltierra also admitted to hiring someone to photoshop images of the victim’s face onto pornography. He then shared the images online and sent them to members of her family.
The victim ended up filing a restraining order against Baltierra, but the harassment continued. Using her real name and city of residence, which he obtained from the protective order, he began posting her personal details online and in social media forums. He also posted links to her social media pages on pornography websites.
The victim, who streamed herself playing video games, ultimately had to stop streaming after Baltierra’s legion of fake accounts repeatedly spammed and harassed her videos.
In early 2021, Baltierra agreed to no longer contact the victim or her family in exchange for dissolving the protective order. But in June of that year, he called the local police department in her hometown and requested a welfare check at her home, alleging that she made online comments about killing herself. During that call, he again tried to obtain her personal address. Police did end up responding to her home for a welfare check.
From January 2022 to March 2022, he repeatedly sent threatening messages to members of her family, including one messages that read, “get a casket ready.” In March 2022, he wrote a letter to the parents of the victim’s boyfriend, threatening that the situation was going to “end badly for her,” according to the DOJ.
In that same month, a suspicious package was sent to the victim that ultimately was found to contain condoms. Baltierra admitted to sending the package as part of his plea, DOJ officials said.
In May 2022, Baltierra was arrested for the ongoing stalking and harassment and he appeared in United States District Court in Santa Ana to hear his charges. He pleaded guilty to the charges months later, but the harassment campaign didn’t stop, the DOJ said.
Baltierra continued to contact the woman after the FBI raided his home, after he was arrested and after he pleaded guilty to the federal charges.
“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 said.
On Thursday, the DOJ announced that Baltierra had been sentenced to two years in prison and was ordered to pay $2,544 in restitution. The maximum sentence he faced was five years in federal prison.
He’s been in custody since last September for violating terms of his pretrial release.