"We received information that this guy was a regular player of an online game, which was referred to as 'some warlock and witches' game," Roberson said. "None of that information was sound enough to pursue on its own, but putting everything we had together gave me enough evidence to send a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment. I knew exactly what he was playing — World of Warcraft. I used to play it. It's one of the largest online games in the world."
Blizzard was able to provide Roberson with an abundance of information, including Hightower's IP address, account name, and even his billing address. With a little grunt work and a visit to Google Earth, Roberson was able to locate the suspect.
"I did a search off the IP address to locate him. I got a longitude and latitude. Then I went to Google Earth. It works wonders. It uses longitude and latitude. Boom! I had an address. I was not able to go street side at the location, but I had him."
Canadian authorities arrested and deported Hightower back to the states where he is currently facing charges in Indiana.
"You hear stories about you can't get someone through the Internet," Roberson told the paper. "Guess what? You can. I just did. Here you are, playing World of Warcraft, and you never know who you're playing with."
Hightower's character Rastlynn
No word yet on Mr. T's missing shipment of mohawk grenades.
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