Friday, July 27, 2007 - Page updated at 02:05 AM
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
Online feud escalated to Texas arson
The Associated Press
ELM MOTT, Texas — A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson.
As he made his way toward Texas, Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business.
When he finally arrived, Tavares burned down the guy's trailer.
This week, Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to arson and admitting he set the blaze.
"I didn't think anybody was stupid enough to try to kill anybody over an Internet fight," said John G. Anderson, 59, who suffered smoke inhalation while trying to put out the 2005 blaze that caused $50,000 in damage to his trailer and computer equipment.
The feud started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of him, he said.
Anderson, who went by the screen name "Johnny Darkness," traded barbs with Tavares, aka "PyroDice."
Investigators say Tavares boiled over when Anderson called him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Tavares look like a skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under a "Revenge of the Nerds" sign.
Tavares obtained Anderson's real name and hometown from Anderson's Web page about his Museum of Horrors Haunted House.
Tavares took leave from his post as a weapons systems operator at the AEGIS Training and Readiness Center in Dahlgren, Va., and started driving. Investigators say he told them he planned to point a shotgun at Anderson and shoot his computer.
Instead, when he got to Elm Mott — after posting one last photo of a "Welcome to Texas" sign — Tavares threw a piece of gasoline-soaked plastic foam into the back of Anderson's mobile home and lit a flare, authorities say.
Tavares' attorney, Susan Kelly Johnston, said he never intended to hurt Anderson and did not think Anderson was in the trailer when he set the fire.
Tavares was discharged last year from the Navy.
Anderson said he continues to be harassed online and said he is convinced the harassment is related to the Internet feud.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

Seattle's favorite places to eat, shop and play
Seattleites have spoken! See the NWsource '08 People's Picks winners.
UPDATE - 01:25 AM
Bush, Fukuda lay out goals for G-8 summit in Japan
UPDATE - 01:45 AM
California wildfires strain state's resources
Lawn-chair adventurer soars across state line
Ancient Hebrew tablet kindles messiah debate
- Never underestimate cheap, easy or stupid in home maintenance | Ask the Expert
- 30 billion fewer miles driven, and counting
- Early iPhone adopter on fence about new one | Practical Mac | Glenn Fleishman
- Bennett ready for team to begin OKC transition
- Oregon man lands in Idaho after trip in lawn chair carried by balloons
- Washington law helps outdoor workers beat heat
- Scientists warn U.S. unprepared if asteroid strikes
- M's play the numbers, beat Detroit 4-1
- A mega-yacht craving
- Aberdeen man sentenced for cutting a lock of ex-girlfriend's hair
- Never underestimate cheap, easy or stupid in home maintenance | Ask the Expert
- Oregon man lands in Idaho after trip in lawn chair carried by balloons
- Alaska's sick salmon | Close-up
- Early iPhone adopter on fence about new one | Practical Mac | Glenn Fleishman
- A mega-yacht craving
- Renton teachers learn ABCs of science
- Washington law helps outdoor workers beat heat
- 30 billion fewer miles driven, and counting
- Beaux Arts Village celebrates 100 years of community values
- RiverWalk a burst of nature in Redmond



