An ex-Marine residing in Orange County is set to be sentenced on Thursday for his use of numerous Twitter accounts to harass a professional online gamer whom he fixated on during a prolonged campaign of harassment.
Meet Evan Baltierra, a 30-year-old resident of Trabuco Canyon in Orange County. Baltierra pleaded guilty in Los Angeles last year to a single charge of stalking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The encounter between Baltierra and the victim, an esteemed “World of Warcraft” gamer whose identity remains undisclosed, took place at a convention in Anaheim in November 2019. Following the meeting, Baltierra made the woman feel uncomfortable by expressing a desire to meet her in her hometown of Calgary, Canada, as stated in court documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.
After being blocked by the victim on her social media accounts, Baltierra resorted to creating hundreds of new accounts to send threatening messages and spam the gamer’s online video game stream. Prosecutors highlighted a menacing Twitter message sent in January 2021, in which Baltierra stated that he was patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
The situation escalated in October 2020 when Baltierra hired an unidentified individual to manipulate explicit photos of the victim. These photoshopped images superimposed her face onto pornographic content, as outlined in court documents.
From November 2020 to March 2022, Baltierra distributed these photoshopped nude images across various pornographic sites and internet forums. He also sent the images to the victim’s friends and family. Baltierra went further by posting links to the images on different social media platforms and encouraging others to search for the woman’s name in order to find the explicit pictures.
The prosecution recommends a sentence of 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Additionally, they propose a $15,000 fine and restitution of $2,544 to be paid to the victim. On the other hand, the defense attorneys argue that the court should impose a maximum sentence of 12 months behind bars.
“Of most concern is the defendant’s persistent engagement in criminal behavior, despite multiple opportunities to desist,” stated the prosecutors in a sentencing memorandum. “Even after a restraining order was issued in March and April of 2021, Baltierra continued his harassment and attempted to make contact with the victim.”
Even with a protective order in place, Baltierra continued his campaign in January 2021, sharing the victim’s personal information, including her name and city of residence (which were mentioned in the protective order), on various social media platforms and during her live video game streams.
In addition to sharing the explicit images, Baltierra also posted the victim’s Twitter handle on pornographic websites.
Throughout the victim’s live video game streams, Baltierra employed multiple accounts to persistently post harassing messages. As a result, the victim was unable to continue streaming herself playing video games and eventually halted streaming in February 2021, according to federal prosecutors.
In June 2021, just two months after reaching a settlement with the victim that prohibited any contact with her, her family, and friends, Baltierra phoned the local police department in an attempt to orchestrate a welfare check on the victim. He falsely claimed that the woman had made online threats of suicide and also tried to obtain her home address during the call. Subsequently, the police visited the victim’s residence to ensure her well-being.
Between January and March of 2022, Baltierra continued to send threatening messages to the victim on various social media platforms. One message ominously read, “get a casket ready.” Additionally, Baltierra wrote a letter to the victim’s boyfriend’s parents, implying that the situation would end poorly for her, according to court documents.
Further adding to the list of offenses, Baltierra confessed to sending the victim an unsolicited suspicious package, which was later revealed to contain a box of condoms.
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