A former Marine from Orange County pleaded guilty Monday to a federal stalking charge after he ran a lengthy harassment campaign against a professional gamer from Canada, according to authorities. Evan Baltierra, 29, of Trabuco Canyon faces up to five years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Central District of California. Baltierra moderated the gamer's online channel, where she streamed live video of herself playing the popular multiplayer online role-playing game "World of Warcraft," after she and Baltierra met online, according to charging documents filed in federal court. They first met in person at the BlizzCon convention in Anaheim in November 2019, where the victim held a meet-and-greet event with her fans, according to the documents. Baltierra asked the woman to be his "valentine" online, but she refused because she was in a relationship.

A former Marine from Orange County has been arrested and faces federal charges for allegedly creating hundreds of Twitter accounts used to stalk a professional video game player who lives in Calgary, Canada, authorities said. Evan Baltierra, 29, was arrested Monday by FBI agents at his home in Trabuco Canyon on suspicion of stalking, according to federal prosecutors. He admitted to investigators he harassed the woman who made her living as a professional online gamer on the popular "War of Warcraft," authorities said. The suspect "orchestrated a campaign of harassment targeting the victim, her boyfriend, her friends and her boyfriend's family," according to court records. Baltierra and his attorney could not be reached for comment.