Kotaku
A New York man was arrested Friday after allegedly stalking and threatening to rape two Spokane girls he met while playing a Halo game on Xbox Live, KHQ reports.
Joshua R. Stetar was arrested Friday in Spokane, Washington after the man drove 40 hours straight to the city and started texting and driving by the house of the 15-year-old girl and her sister, police said.
Police say Stetar met the girl in 2006 in "Halo" using Live and that he had sent packages and flowers to the parent's home, but they were always returned. He also allegedly text messaged the girl hundreds of times and finally drove to the town.
Around 9:30 p.m. Friday night the suspect sent a text message to the victim saying he was driving by her house at that moment. In the message he even described his vehicle, a Gray Oldsmobile. The girl's parents were outside the home and in fact saw the car driving past.
At 9:36 p.m. the victim received another text message from the suspect saying, "Tell the cops that I'm gonna rape you and your sister."
The suspect had also mentioned that he was staying at a Days Inn in Spokane.
Police ended up picking up the suspect at a nearby Econolodge.
NYC man arrested after traveling to Spokane to stalk girls [KHQ, via Gaming Today]
Comments
"Where the white womens at"
Sick puppy.
She gave her address and phone number to a random guy on XBL. Good things never come of that.
Why did the girls give the man their address. Two stupid girls plus an idiot = bad things.
I hope the parents take action against their kids.
did they have recon armour?
wow that's really scary... specially as a girl gamer myself. D;
That dude definitely needs to be off the streets.
is that why xbox live has been fooked for the past 3 or so days because the cops have been investigating and gathering evidence,lol
Cue JT in...
3...
2...
1...
"Tell the cops that I'm gonna rape you and your sister"
Sounds like he got what he wanted. I'd hope that the 15 year old learned her lesson, but I'm pretty sure her parents won't allow her or her sister to use Live anymore.
Im glade that they caught this guy he sounds like he could of done some real harm to these girls.
@BALLABOY311: are you sure she didn't put the info on her Bio and he saw it??? just a question because she is only 15 and probably didn't think about people like him
They girls didn't give him information.
He googled it.
Read the Link.
Maybe they were going to play Dreamcast together.
Glad they caught him. No matter how stupid the girls were for giving out info on LIVE, no one deserves even the threats like that. Lucky he was stupid!
Well, perhaps if he was smarter, he wouldn't have tried it... I guess we'll never know.
@ballaboy311: Exactly what I was thinking. The guy's a lowlife scum that needs to be off the streets, yes, but the girl is pretty stupid as well. Oh well, learned her lesson I'm sure.
Why the fuck would anyone share ANY personal info with some creep on XBL?
Kids, listen to your parents. There are people out there that want to turn you into a lampshade.
@metallicorphan: Lol. Would make me a whole lot less mad that I cant play all my new games online right now.
... did you guys read the story? They already released him O_o WTF is up with that -- he threatened under-age girls, he should have been held until his hearing.
Next, we're gonna have bestiality threats on Viva Pinata: Party Animals.
Scary...
... Wow ... creepy.
Told you, something's in that Halo. I smell a worldwide ban.
Could see a lot of faults here...
Are those 15 year old girls really that stupid? Oh wait, they're from Spokane that makes more sense...
@Brendar:
I dont mean to laugh, but it is true.
Some kids are just so stupid now-a-days!
@kgetz3: Googled what, the gamertag? Some personal info had to be given.
@kgetz3:
Oh yeah, cause the news is SO accurate when it comes to game related things.
Please, there is NO WAY he can get personal info, unless they told him something that he was able to get personal info from, such as a MYSPACE where every teenie bopper thinks they are a porn star and gives out their underwear and bra size along with address.
Disturbing that parents dont know what their children do on the computer.
there are girls on Xbox Live?
What I find fishy is that he was staying at an Econolodge, when the police specifically said that he was staying at a Days Inn. Something is wrong there... I suspect a connection between the two.
Humanity these days..
Don't turn this around and blame the victim.
If he had sent flowers and other gifts that were all returned, he couldn't get the message through his damn skull that she was rejecting him.
well, why he did "tell the cops I´m going to rape you?" It´s like he was begging to be arrested. Maybe there´s something else to the history that the girls won´t tell neitther the cops, nor their parents eh? Those 2 girls seems to be the standart manipulative "damsel-in-distress" pseudo innocent ones to me.
What nughty online stuff happened since they told him their adress I´d rather not to know.
good that he got caught before he hurt anyone, but I gotta wonder...how did he get their cell #s and home address? Either they told him, put it in a myspace or some other profile.
Those parents should definitely be more watchful of their kid's behaviours online and who they're talking to.
Hope this serves as a wake-up call to that whole family. Could have been much, much worse.
@kromekoran:
No, just 8-12 year old boys that sound like girls!
It is all a lie!
Newsflash. Meeting people online usually ends in bloodshed and tears. Or embarrassing stories to tell when you're drunk with friends.
With all of the obvious socially retarded people on Live, I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would think that giving a person they met on Live their personal info would be a good idea. Yeah she's 15. Maybe i'm wrong but I think I knew better when I was 15. Seriously, does she have downs syndrome or something? Where are her parents?
I wonder how much Jack Thompson paid the kid, it all seems a bit suspect to me.
it wasn't a girl. Just a cool guy with no hair
@Cad06:
Probably after having something like online sex with 2 horny girls and then they got scared and ran away because he was a real person instead of a private place to psycho kinky dreams that it´s the internet, I would get insane as well.
@EnigmaNemesis: Because that joke hasn't be done a million times already on every negative story about games in the news. How the fuck is "cue JT" relevant to the story anyway?
@Digitalguardian (Mothers Against Angsty Prinnys): On kotaku no less.
@aribus: Not always, I met my girlfriend online (that's part of her as my avatar) -- then again, I do have an insane story about another girl I met online. So, yeah ^_^; you're probably right.
Halo causes RAPE!
It's like teabagging gone way too far.
@Digitalguardian (Mothers Against Angsty Prinnys):
Mind your manners!
Nice, this creep lives about 20 minutes away from me.
Rapist + Stupid Girls =
Threatening, harassing, and attempting to rape someone is one thing, but lying about staying at a Days Inn when you're actually at an Econo Lodge? UNFORGIVABLE!
I like how they refer to him as a NYC man when he lives about 2.5 hours away from the city. Nice reporting, I'll also make sure to be careful with my X-box.
To everyone calling the victims an idiot in this thread, READ THE DAMN LINK: THEY DID NOT GIVE HIM ANY INFORMATION, HE GOOGLED THEM AND STALKED THEIR COUSIN.
This is an interesting study in how people consume media. They read a summary of a news story and use assumptions to fill in the blanks. Dangerous stuff.
@aribus:
I agree. and I have one of those disturbing stories....
Some girls put up OLLLLLLD pictures of themselves.
That is all I'll say.
Sounds like the guy wanted to get caught. Can't say for sure why as I'm not a licensed practitioner of mental health medicine or psychoanalyses. I am, however, a licensed practitioner of hot dog consumption.
That being said, not all online meetings end in "bloodshed and tears". I have met several people from the Internet, one of whom is my long-time best friend (we met 'bout 15 years ago). You just can't be stupid about it and yeah, if anything sexual is involved, there will probably be "bloodshed and tears". Keep it in your pants.
I found a crumpled up note from the first time I used the internet back in 1993 (3rd grade.) It says: "Don't ever give personal information to people you meet online, especially if you're a minor."
The whole lot sounds like they're a bit dense. Thank God nothing bad came of the affair, though.
things are a little tense in these parts. Anyway, regardless of what someone does, they never deserve to be hurt in any way, especially rape. thats just not right.
The girl wasn't stupid for giving her information away, as someone has already mentioned here.
"During a police interview the suspect admitted he was able to get much of the 15-year old victim's personal information such as her address and cellular telephone number by "Googling" her name on-line."
Her name was something he'd easily have, as they were clearly "friends" to some degree.
"...Stetar and the girl had been talking since 2006..."
She probably shouldn't have all that other information publically available, though, especially without her parents knowing. I'm sure she doesn't anymore.
@ShawnC++:
I sense another 'sting' in the near future. D: