Playing World of Warcraft can be very addicting and a lot of fun. Even criminals on the run cannot resist the allure of logging on and releasing some of that “hiding from the cops” stress and tension in the virtual land of the popular World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online role playing game.
And that is exactly what happened to Alfred Hightower. Hightower was wanted by the Howard County Sheriff’s Department on charges of selling drugs. When a warrant for his arrest was issued in 2007, Hightower fled to Canada. What finally left to his arrest was information that deputy Matt Roberson obtained from Blizzard Entertainment on Hightower’s World of Warcraft account. The information included his IP address, his account history, billing address, screen name, and more.
The deputy was able to locate the suspected criminal and arrange for Royal Canadian Mounted Police to make the arrest. United States marshals are assisting in the extradition back to face charges.