Department of Justice brought charges against the culprit for hundreds of faked emergency calls.
California teenager Alan Filion pled guilty this month to falsely calling SWAT on hundreds of targets, accepting four counts of mankind interstate threats of injury.
“Swatting” is a form of harassment that has increased in recent years. A perpetrator will report a false bomb or mass shooting threat to SWAT and send first responders to the address of its target, usually their home address. Law enforcement then forcibly enters and searches the home, as is protocol for a bomb threat, alarming and endangering its residents.
Filion first began swatting homes when he was 16, and a year later began running a business that offered swatting-for-a-fee services. From August 2022 to January 2024, Filion made more than 375 false calls to SWAT.
“For well over a year, Alan Filion targeted religious institutions, schools, government officials, and other innocent victims with hundreds of false threats of imminent mass shootings, bombings, and other violent crimes,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
“This prosecution and today’s guilty plea reaffirm the Justice Department’s commitment to using all tools to hold accountable every individual who endangers our communities through swatting and hoax threats,” Deputy Attorney General Monaco said.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Deputy Attorney General Monaco as she seeks to uphold the law in the Justice Department.
- For Attorney General Merrick Garland to receive God’s wisdom as he heads the DOJ in the remaining months of the current term.
Sources: Department of Justice
