"Don't call me nerd, dork." Or how PyroDice really flamed Johnny Darkness
Oh dear, where to begin on this one? ... Our friends at the Associated Press offer up a real life tale of the revenge of the accused nerd. As you can read below, a Naval weapons systems operator is accused of driving from Virginia to Texas and torching another dude's trailer. The arsonist's motivation: the man compared him to the Lambda Lambda Lambdas.
Scratch your heads and read on. ...
Revenge is costly for 'nerd'
Internet insult leads to arson, prison sentence
Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 07/26/2007 10:42:58 PM PDT
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 Elm Mott, Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class 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 the guy's trailer down.
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.
Tavares took leave from his post as a weapons systems operator at the AEGIS Training and Readiness Center in Dahlgren, Va., and started driving.
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.