California Man Indicted for Making Threats Against Blizzard

ffronw

I am a meat popsicle
Oct 24, 2013
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California Man Indicted for Making Threats Against Blizzard

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1337/1337723.jpgAfter making threats to injure Blizzard employees, a California man was arrested and indicted.

No matter how upset you are over a game or how it's being run, making threats to the developer of said game is not a good idea, as one California man learned this month. According to a press release [https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/sacramento-man-indicted-transmitting-online-threats-blizzard-entertainment-video-game] from the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, 28-year-old Stephen Cebula of Sacramento, CA was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday for making threats against Blizzard employees.

The press release states that,

"According to court documents, between July 2, 2016, and July 3, 2016, Cebula transmitted messages over the internet to Blizzard Entertainment, in which he stated that he 'may or may not pay [Blizzard] a visit with an AK47 amongst some other 'fun' tools,' and 'might be inclined to 'cause a disturbance' at [Blizzard's] headquarters in California with an AK47 and a few other 'opportunistic tools.'"

Celbula remains in custody after being arrested on July 12, and will be arraigned July 26. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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SlumlordThanatos

Lord Inquisitor
Aug 25, 2014
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Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

It saddens me to see that people still don't realize that your online actions still have consequences.
 

grigjd3

New member
Mar 4, 2011
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aegix drakan said:
Direct threats of violence, not covered by first amendment.

Congrats dude, you're about to get REAMED in court.
Depends. On these kinds of things, often if investigation shows that the threats were hollow and the person makes a real effort to express regret in court, they can get off with relatively light sentences, like public service and probation. It always depends on the judge, but there is certainly precedent for seeing if the person can cool off and realize what they did was incredibly dumb.
 

Voxoid

Regular Member
Nov 28, 2013
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Let's just hope that everybody involved in the case are aware of whats going around them and not all sitting around playing pokemon on their damn phones.
 

Sniper Team 4

New member
Apr 28, 2010
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Nice. I wish this happened more often. I wish this happened to everyone who made these types of threats, regardless if they're made to a game company or not.
Granted, there would be a LOT more people in prison and paying fines, but maybe people would finally figure out that this is not okay. Throw the book at him for all I care.
 

Zelderahn

New member
Feb 19, 2014
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A good start, maybe some of the ridiculous piss and vinegar in the game sphere can be beaten out one justified legal case at a time.

I am ENTIRELY done with people who think that it is okay to spew whatever nasty shit they want online, especially the imbeciles who do it on an identity that can be tracked.
 

MoltenSilver

New member
Feb 21, 2013
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Sure wouldn't be sad to see this guy get everything he has coming to him, the more examples to people that you can face extreme consequences for threatening violence, especially over the internet, the better.
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
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Too bad it wasnt Florida Man. This would have been a nice addition to His legend.
 

Areloch

It's that one guy
Dec 10, 2012
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Kibeth41 said:
grigjd3 said:
Depends. On these kinds of things, often if investigation shows that the threats were hollow and the person makes a real effort to express regret in court, they can get off with relatively light sentences, like public service and probation. It always depends on the judge, but there is certainly precedent for seeing if the person can cool off and realize what they did was incredibly dumb.
I mean, he lives locally to Blizzard, and the acquisition of a gun literally just requires him to take a short trip down to a Walmart in Nevada. The threat is entirely plausible for him to carry out.

I'd imagine it'd be more likely for him to dodge repercussions if he were a teen living in New York. Not a grown adult living locally to the place he's threatening to shoot up, while having easy access to guns.

Unless he's a minor, then he definitely should be punished. Anyone above the age of around 16 should know that you don't make death threats.
I mean, that's not THAT short of a trip. Similarly, I'm relatively sure that Walmart only sells handguns and shotguns and stuff in the ones that still do. To the best of my knowledge, getting an AK-47 requires going to a gun store or gun show.

Otherwise, yeah, it happening more than once and being more detailed than "I wanna blow up Blizzard" makes it a lot harder to dodge repercussions.
Even if the threat of violence itself isn't valid, the prosecution may try and stick charges for intimidation and other such things.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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Fool! Blizzard is clearly a cold-based creature! You need fire damage to do any good!

OT: Wow, that was really...really stupid. Seriously, what was he thinking?
 

Qizx

Executor
Feb 21, 2011
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I feel like especially in the time we live in now where mass shootings/attacks are becoming horrifyingly frequent he will probably be hit pretty hard by the law. He should have just written an angry letter about how he's never going to buy their stuff again because of Tracer's Butt. That would get their attention.
 

mysecondlife

New member
Feb 24, 2011
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Good. I live locally to Blizzard HQ (10 minute drive) and I certainly don't want any more of this taken lightly considering all that's currently happening.
 

Leg End

Romans 12:18
Oct 24, 2010
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"According to court documents, between July 2, 2016, and July 3, 2016, Cebula transmitted messages over the internet to Blizzard Entertainment, in which he stated that he 'may or may not pay [Blizzard] a visit with an AK47 amongst some other 'fun' tools,' and 'might be inclined to 'cause a disturbance' at [Blizzard's] headquarters in California with an AK47 and a few other 'opportunistic tools.'"
The wording alone tells me he was full of shit, but that doesn't excuse threats of death.

Kibeth41 said:
I mean, he lives locally to Blizzard, and the acquisition of a gun literally just requires him to take a short trip down to a Walmart in Nevada. The threat is entirely plausible for him to carry out.
Kibeth41 said:
And I doubt he'd be picky about the choice of gun if he was going to shoot up Blizzard. I think his main concern would be bypassing Cali's gun laws.
If that's his main concern then he can buy locally for a price and be ready to open fire in a fit of mentally challenged rage in under an hour.
This state is hilarious.
 

MerlinCross

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Apr 22, 2011
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Voxoid said:
Let's just hope that everybody involved in the case are aware of whats going around them and not all sitting around playing pokemon on their damn phones.
I mean you say that but didn't someone get arrested for doing the same thing to people playing pokemon on their damn phones? The making a threat I mean.
 

Voxoid

Regular Member
Nov 28, 2013
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MerlinCross said:
Voxoid said:
Let's just hope that everybody involved in the case are aware of whats going around them and not all sitting around playing pokemon on their damn phones.
I mean you say that but didn't someone get arrested for doing the same thing to people playing pokemon on their damn phones? The making a threat I mean.
I don't quite understand what you mean. Who threatened people playing pokemon?