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A career ruined: Man's sentence follows long-distance Internet squabble, arson

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Erin Quinn

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Two years ago, Russell Tavares was a clean-cut 25-year-old entrusted with “very high clearance” in missile and fire control in the U.S. Navy, officials say.

Now he’s the subject of a bizarre, tragic story — one that McLennan County investigators say would be a fitting plot for a television crime drama about short tempers, long-distance vendettas and the Internet’s ability to bring various personalities into conflict.
On Russell Tavares (above): "I've worked plenty of arson cases, but never one as bizarre as this one. Most are committed for money or getting back at somebody. This one, he blames on the computer." — James Pack, McLennan County Sheriff's Office detective

Tavares was involved in an Internet chat room squabble with John Anderson, a 59-year-old Elm Mott resident. Anderson said he called Tavares “a nerd.”

Tavares’ response: He took a leave of absence from the Navy. Drove from Virginia to Waco. Set fire to Anderson’s trailer home.

Monday, he pleaded guilty to a felony arson charge and was sentenced to seven years in a Texas prison. He was discharged from his post in the military.

No remorse was shown, officials say, as Tavares was scolded by 54th District Judge Matt Johnson during Monday’s court proceedings for taking pictures of Anderson with his cell phone camera.

What led a man with the utmost trust from the U.S. military to throw it all away to take revenge on a man 1,300 miles away is still a mystery — even with a formal confession from Tavares.

Officials say there was simply another side to this man — a side that was seen publicly on various Web sites.

Tavares was obsessed, officials say, with fire, guns and knives. Using the screen names “pyrodice” and “illpackapistol,” he posted pictures of himself online pointing firearms at certain people, Assistant District Attorney Jason Darling said.

It was on one of those Internet sites, orfay.com, that Tavares, of King George, Va., met Anderson, who owns Museum of Horrors Haunted House along Interstate 35 in Elm Mott. Anderson digitally touches up photos in his spare time and posts them on the site where people post pictures and chat.

Anderson said his page became the most popular on the Web site and a small group of individuals from all over the world started trying to pick fights and critique his photos. For example, Anderson said, some would make sexual statements about some of the photos of children.

Trading barbs online
John Anderson, 59, looks over the charred remains of his trailer home in Elm Mott. Russell Tavares, a 27-year-old Virginia man, confessed to driving to Waco and setting Anderson's house on fire after an Internet squabble. Tavares was sentenced Monday to seven years in a Texas prison. (Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald)

“They would say bad things, I would say bad things back to them,” Anderson said. “It was like, ‘Your mother wears combat boots’ and ‘My daddy can beat up your daddy.’”

One of those who got involved was Tavares. Anderson said he made fun of the pictures posted on Tavares’ page of himself, comparing him to a “white Steve Urkel.”

Anderson said he posted “Revenge of the Nerds” above a picture of Tavares with no shirt and carrying a gun.

“There was no real fight other than I called him a nerd,” Anderson said. “And then he said he was going to kill me.”

And in October 2005, Tavares took a leave of absence from the Navy. He drove from the base in Virginia to Waco.

He took a picture of himself in each state he passed through, posting it on his Web site. The photo of him by the Texas welcome sign was dated Oct. 9. Tavares’ Waco-based attorney, Susan Kelly Johnston, said she was unaware whether her client intentionally came to Waco to seek revenge on Anderson or if he took a detour to Waco on his way from Virginia to his parents’ home in Arizona.

Law enforcement officials say they don’t know, either.

But Tavares’ intention that day, officials say, was to knock on Anderson’s door, point a shotgun in his face to scare him, then fire a round at his computer.
John Anderson's trailer, the charred remains of which were still to be seen Monday on his Elm Mott property, was the scene of a bizarre 2005 attack spurred by an online feud. (Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald)

Instead, Tavares later confessed, he used a homemade accelerant to set a fire near the propane tank outside Anderson’s trailer home.

No one was injured in the fire, but Anderson said it caused more than $50,000 in damages. The trailer, located behind the haunted house, was a total loss.

James Pack, a detective with the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, and Janine Mather, an arson investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, began investigating the long line of people Anderson thought might have set the fire.

Widespread probe

Talking with people who post images on orfay.com from Waco to Virginia to Spain, Pack said he began to have suspicions about Tavares.

Pack worked closely with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and other government officials, he said.

“I’ve worked plenty of arson cases, but never one as bizarre as this one,” Pack said. “Most are committed for money or getting back at somebody. This one he blames on the computer. Tavares said if it wasn’t for the computer, this wouldn’t have happened.

“This was one of the hardest cases I’ve worked,” said Pack, a 13-year veteran of the sheriff’s office. “It was just a rollercoaster for me. It was definitely an experience.”

But even after spending between three and four months on the case, culminating with Tavares’ arrest in Arizona, Pack said he still doesn’t understand what prompted Tavares to go to such lengths to commit a crime against a man across the country whom he had never met. Tavares had no previous criminal record, he said.

“(Tavares) is a very smart person with fire,” Pack said. “He knows his stuff. But now he’s just a guy that’s ruined his whole entire career.”