A fugitive who fled the United States after a warrant was issued for his arrest has been tracked down in Canada thanks to his addiction to World of Warcraft.

Alfred Hightower was wanted on charges of dealing a variety of controlled substances, but skipped the country shortly after - heading up to Canada. The Mounties were called, and offered to help, but no-one knew where the man lived. No-one except World of Warcraft developers, Blizzard.

A source indicated that the man was a World of Warcraft fan, so the cops got in touch with Blizzard who offered up not only the man's IP address, but also his account info, history, billing address, online screen name and preferred server. He's a pvp-specced level 80 Resto Tauren Shaman, if you're curious.

Deputy Sheriff Matt Roberson grabbed a longitude and latitude from the IP address, and then used Google Earth to pinpoint exactly where the man lived, sending the info to the Mounties, who promptly deported him. "This is the first time in my seven years as sheriff that a fugitive was located in Canada. Rogers and Roberson did an outstanding job coordinating this", said Sheriff Marty Talbert.

So beware - if you're wanted by the law somewhere, at least use a proxy server to hide your IP before heading into your favourite MMO.

Via: kokomoperspective.com

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