Teen Behind Hundreds of Swatting Attacks Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges

In maybe the most important swatting case to ever be prosecuted, an 18-year-old from Lancaster, California, has pleaded responsible to federal fees stemming from a nationwide spree of hundreds of shooting and bomb threat hoaxes that despatched police scrambling to excessive colleges, courthouses, and the properties of regulation enforcement officers.

Alan Winston Filion now faces a most penalty of 5 years in jail for every of 4 counts of creating interstate threats to injure the particular person of one other, in keeping with the United States Department of Justice.

Early this yr, Filion was arrested and extradited to Seminole County, Florida. On the time, state prosecutors charged Filion with 4 state-level felony counts stemming from a single incident through which, prosecutors allege, Filion advised a Sanford Police Division dispatcher that he was armed with pipe bombs and an AR-15 rifle and was strolling into Masjid Al Hayy Mosque to kill everybody he noticed.

Filion, whom authorities imagine operated on-line as “Torswats,” has been in jail and not using a trial for almost a yr. He entered a plea of not responsible to the state fees.

The federal fees introduced on Wednesday, together with interviews from folks related to the investigation—and Filion himself—allege his swatting actions reached far past Florida’s borders.

In line with the plea settlement, between roughly August 2022 to January 2024 Filion made greater than 375 swatting calls. These included incidents the place he claimed to have planted bombs or threatened to conduct mass shootings at focused areas that included non secular establishments, excessive colleges, and traditionally black schools and universities.

“This prosecution and at present’s responsible plea reaffirm the Justice Division’s dedication to utilizing all instruments to carry accountable each particular person who endangers our communities via swatting and hoax threats,” deputy legal professional common Lisa Monaco stated in an announcement. “For effectively over a yr, Alan Filion focused non secular establishments, colleges, authorities officers, and different harmless victims with a whole bunch of false threats of imminent mass shootings, bombings, and different violent crimes. He triggered profound concern and chaos and can now face the results of his actions.”

The case in opposition to Filion, first reported by WIRED, was constructed on a trail of digital evidence left throughout platforms like Telegram, YouTube, and Discord, and pieced collectively by Brad “Cafrozed” Dennis, a non-public investigator. Dennis had been employed by two high-profile Twitch stars, each victims of Torswats’ calls, to seek out the particular person accountable.