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 Texas, 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 in Elm Mott, Texas, Tavares burned John Anderson's trailer down. Tavares, who went by the screen name of "PyroDice" was charged with arson in the incident.
"I didn't think anybody was stupid enough to try to kill anybody over an Internet fight," said 59-year-old Anderson, 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 online feud with Tavares started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his political views. After the exchange of political ideas became heated, Anderson blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language. Tavares and his online friends retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of Anderson.
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 had initially tried to claim that his stop in the Waco area was only a last-minute decision during a cross-country trip to visit his parents in Arizona. He eventually pleaded no-contest to the charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Tavares was discharged last year from the Navy, where he had earned several medals — including the pistol expert and rifle expert medals — in his nine-year career, said Navy spokesman Mike McLellan.
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