We joke about how gaming, especially online first person shooters (in this case '
Halo'), are the domain of basement dwelling uber-dorks and sociopaths. Sadly every once in a while someone has to go and do something that gives the entire online gaming community a bad name.
The emotionally unbalanced loon in question this time is Joshua Stetar. Stetar, 20, was arrested last week in Spokane, Washington, for stalking and harassing a 15 year-old girl and her 6 year-old sister he met online playing 'Halo'. Stetar drove 40 hours, nonstop, across country from his home in Granville, New York, to sit outside the young girls' house and threatened, via text message, to rape her and her sister.
Terrifyingly enough, this was not the first encounter with Stetar that clearly crossed the line. Stetar sent flowers to the jailbait gamer several times over a one-year period and flooded her cell phone with hundreds of text messages. Stetar even flew to Spokane in October to stake out her house.
Apparently Stetar, whose
MySpace page is packed to the brim with Bible quotes and homophobic rants, missed the lesson in Sunday school where they explained that stalking, harassing, and raping little girls would not be considered the right thing to do.
The other question here, however, is how Stetar acquired the girl's address and cell phone number. We have to guess she gave that info to him before she knew he was a little less-than stable, but this all proves one thing: Watch who your kids are gaming with online.
From the
Times UnionRelated links:
