Silenced Heroes of the Storm player faces five years for threatening Blizzard with AK-47

Heroes of the Storm Nova

A Heroes of the Storm player who threatened Blizzard with messages about bringing an AK-47 to their California headquarters after being silenced faces five years in prison.

It’s just a game, please try to be civil when you’re enjoying one of the best multiplayer games on PC.

The ongoing court case in which Stephen Cebula, 28, is being prosecuted by the FBI has revealed messages the player sent to Blizzard developers after he received a chat ban as a result of harrassing other players.

As a player in the Silver bracket of HotS’ ranked ladder system, Cebula sent several messages to other players including racial epithets and threats to “bomb the new york twin towers” despite the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation having completed that act almost 15 years prior.

Cebula was arrested on July 12 on a charge of making threats with intent to injure after posting messages through Facebook to the Irvine, California-based company.

One message, received from Cebula’s Facebook account said: “Careful Blizzard … I live in California and your headquarters is here in California … You keep silencing me in Heroes of the Storm and I may or may not pay you a visit with an AK 47 amongst some other ‘fun’tools.”

After reporting Cebula to the feds on July 7, having received player complaints which began an investigation four days earlier, the FBI found several other social media accounts in Cebula’s control including “tedbundyismygod1” making reference to one of America’s most prolific serial killers.

Upon his arrest, according to court documents from the trial which adjourned for the weekend on Friday, Cebula admitted he made the messagesto “scare those whom he had threatened,” to FBI Special Agent Brady Cowan.

According to Special Agent Cowan, in the same interview Cebula also admitted he had”fantasized about oral sex and sexual intercourse with his five-year-old niece.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly Cebula is being held without bail due to ‘significant’ mental health issues according to the state. This is not the first time the 28-year-old has been submitted to psychiatric evaluation as in March of last year he told deputies of the Sacramento Sherriff’s Department that he had intentions to kill someone at a local park.

Cebula’s plea is expected to be entered on July 26, he faces a maximum of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.