NC man who tracked woman via Snapchat sentenced for gun assault on Blue Ridge Parkway
A man who used Snapchat to find and assault two people on the Blue Ridge Parkway was sentenced Thursday — but only for one of five counts he was originally charged with.
When a woman that Evan William Blankenship met online refused his requests to meet, according to court documents, he used Snapchat’s location information to find her and “scare her” on the parkway’s popular Waterrock Knob Overlook on Sept. 28.
Blankenship, 22, of Whittier, was originally indicted by a grand jury on charges of kidnapping, two counts of assault with intent to commit a felony, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, and possession and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
On Thursday, he was convicted in U.S. District Court in North Carolina’s Western District after a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to possession and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Chief Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced him to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
According to court records, Blankenship told investigating agents he’d met a woman online and was exchanging nude photos with her. He found the woman in a car at the overlook with another man around 3:15 a.m.
National Park Service officials said Blankenship drove to the overlook, which is less than 10 miles southwest of Maggie Valley, found the couple in a car and pointed a semi-automatic gun at them. At one point, he allegedly shot the gun in the air before pointing it back at them, according to a news release.
Blankenship tried to pull the woman, identified as “L.P.” in the news release, out of the car by her arm and hair before hitting her in the face, causing her temporary hearing loss.
The man in the vehicle, identified as “L.M.,” convinced Blankenship to let the two go after the couple promised not to report it to police.
Blankenship, court records allege, followed the couple down the mountain before driving away. The indictment paperwork says “despite the early morning hour, the pair eventually found law enforcement.”
“L.P.” told authorities she knew Blankenship through Snapchat and believed he used the social media app’s location-sharing feature to find her on the overlook — which is the most-visited spot on the parkway, according to the National Park Service.
Snapchat, an app that allows users to post and send photos and videos to other users, also has a “Snap Map” that allows people to see other’s location, which is updated any time the app is opened.
Location feature on Snapchat
In 2018, Snapchat added a feature to allow users to decide who can see their location. On its website, the app recommends people stay “safe as possible” by “only choosing to share your location with people you know, checking in on your privacy settings often to make sure you’re sharing your location how you want to and only submitting things to Snap Map that you don’t mind other people seeing, including street signs or landmarks that can indicate your location.”
The woman Blankenship was after told authorities she’d spent time with him once before but they didn’t know each other beyond Snapchat, court documents show.
Police arrested Blankenship on Oct. 11. He remains in federal custody and will soon be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The dropped kidnapping charge could have resulted in a life sentence for Blakenship. Each of the four assault charges had a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Firing his gun could have added at least 10 years to his sentence, according to the news release. The maximum sentence for firing a weapon in furtherance of a crime is life in prison.
