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Cops in Indiana have wizards to thank for catching up with a wanted man hiding in Ottawa.% J6 S1 P3 x4 T/ c' `2 e+ }$ y5 d3 c
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* @$ Q+ O9 m% ?9 n2 c# D @9 r) bNot real wizards, though, but rather the kind cheap ugg boots you find in the online video game World of Warcraft, aka WoW.
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, z" g" s& p; s6 [ [Alfred Hightower was wanted on drug charges by police.
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1 e1 a7 f# ^9 s/ EApparently Hightower chose to keep a low profile by limiting his activities to playing video games. But, because the type of game he was using was online, all anyone needed was his IP address to find the computer he was playing on.- g' ], \. g1 U5 s' Y; q6 E
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Investigators in Kokomo, Ind. managed to convince Activision Blizzard, the company which operates the game, to do just that.8 |# e) b8 m, m# {6 J
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Once the American cops received a billing address, computer IP address, online screen name, and preferred server, they contacted the RCMP and Hightower was picked up.
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He was expected to arrive back in Kokomo on Tuesday and appear in court there this week.
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2 p1 s; R1 v# R/ M+ e' X& sAccording to the website Geek.com, Hightower&rsquo,cosplay costumes;s online identity cheap wow gold in the game involving witches and warlocks was Rastlyn. The site is attempting to start on online chat to find out if he was arrested while playing with his character — a level 80 Tauren Shaman.
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- s# ^) P5 A% \+ X; f4 X( g; ]Site commentators Hightower, or whoever logged in at that address, must have spent a lot of time playing to reach level 80.0 N( [# `5 ?0 N5 g' m
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Kokomo sheriff’s deputy Matt Roberson told the website AFP that he knew about the game World of Warcraft because he used to play it.2 G& @+ `# O: y& Z! P
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# N, E+ {# R n- i C0 x“I put that information in my pocket and continued to gather evidence,” Roberson told AFP.! G3 j$ ^6 `. G9 }6 _& u1 ]
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& ?" \9 J N' N0 I4 d. xSpokesman JP Vincelette says he “won’t confirm or deny” if Ottawa Police were involved in the arrest. “We don’t comment on the investigation of another agency,” said Vincelette.
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1 c% x* C1 I$ P" HThis isn’t the first time Roberson has used the Internet to make an arrest.
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He was able to nab another drug dealer in Kokomo on Tuesday after tracking him down on social networking site Facebook./ ]# u" C2 D2 a6 o; Q
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“I knew the guy’s name but I had no idea what he looked like. So I his name into Facebook and there he was — along with buy wow gold incriminating messages on his wall and a picture of him in a motel with a stack of money and some marijuana,nike shoes,&rdquo,jordan shoes; Roberson told AFP. |
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