In 2007, a warrant was issued for the arrest of a man called Alfred Hightower, for dealing schedule IV controlled substance and two charges of dealing in marijuana. During this previous summer, a United States marshal's mission, Operation: Falcon, went underway and called for the mass manhunts of several fugitives, including Hightower. Unfortunately, the situation became very difficult from the standpoint of the United States, as Hightower had fled to Canada, therefore, removing himself from jurisdiction.

Matt Robertson, a deputy from the Howard County Sheriff's Department, was originally tasked with tracking down Hightower. The whereabouts of the fugitive were provided by an internal source, “I received information from a childhood friend, who tells me the guy is in Canada. I held onto the information in the back of my head. I spoke to the marshals and asked if we could confirm the guy’s location, would they help us get him? They indicated that they would.”

Robertson, intent upon finding loopholes in Hightower's security, conducted an investigation with the sheriff’s major Steve Rogers. Robertson and Rogers soon discovered one striking feature of this man's life: he played World of Warcraft.

“We received information that this guy was a regular player of an online game, which was referred to as ‘some warlock and witches’ game. None of that information was sound enough to pursue on its own, but putting everything we had together gave me enough evidence to send a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment. I knew exactly what he was playing — World of Warcraft. I used to play it. It’s one of the largest online games in the world,” Robertson admitted.

Thus, Robertson issued a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment, requesting private information of Hightower to be privately disclosed for the issue of the investigation. However, Robertson realized that his jurisdiction in Irvine, California is limited and that Blizzard has the option to ignore or reject his request, considering the boundaries of the physical and internet realms. Nearly four months following his request, Blizzard responded with a package that featured Hightower's IP address, account information, history, billing address and his online screen name and primary server of choice.

Using his IP address, Robertson zeroed in on Alfred Hightower's position in Ottawa, Ontario. From there, Robertson contacted the United States Marshal, who then relayed the situation onto the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Border Services Agency. Hightower has been apprehended and extradited to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the police have until January 5th to return him to Howard County.

This marks the first time in seven years that a wanted American fugitive has been located in Canada.

Source: Kokomo Perspective