Washington (United States) (AFP) – A Romanian man was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday for making bomb threats and triggering “swatting” attacks on dozens of US officials and lawmakers, the Justice Department said. Thomasz Szabo, 27, who was extradited from Romania in November 2024, pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy and making threats involving explosives.
“Members of Congress, cabinet officials, the heads of federal law enforcement agencies, churches, journalists — Thomasz Szabo and his followers targeted them all with swatting calls and fake bomb threats designed to send armed police to their doors,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement.
“Swatting” takes its name from the heavily armed SWAT teams, short for Special Weapons and Tactics, that are dispatched to tackle high-risk emergencies in the United States. The law enforcement response is often prompted by a caller who reports a false violent crime at a home.
The calls to law enforcement made by Szabo and his co-conspirators included fake bomb threats and false claims of homicides, suicides, kidnappings and mass shootings. According to court documents, Szabo was the organizer and moderator of chat groups formed in 2020 where the conspirators communicated with one another. He used the monikers “Jonah,” “Plank,” “Rambler,” and “War Lord,” among others.
Among the false reports made to US law enforcement were a December 2020 threat to commit a mass shooting at synagogues in New York City and a January 2021 threat to detonate a bomb at the US Capitol and kill then-President-elect Donald Trump.
© 2024 AFP
