Washington (AFP) – A Romanian man pleaded guilty on Monday to making bomb threats and triggering “swatting” attacks on dozens of US officials and lawmakers, the Justice Department said. Thomasz Szabo, 26, who was extradited from Romania in November, faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy and a maximum of 10 years for making threats involving explosives.
“This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“Swatting” takes its name from the heavily armed SWAT teams dispatched to tackle 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 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 New York City synagogues and a January 2021 threat to detonate a bomb at the US Capitol and kill then President-elect Donald Trump. Other swatting victims included at least 25 members of the US Congress or their relatives, cabinet-level officials, and former federal law enforcement officials. The FBI tracked about 600 “swatting” incidents in the country in 2023.
© 2024 AFP
