Teen Pleads Guilty To 23 Counts Of Harassment, Including Swatting
A Coquitlam, British Columbia 17-year-old has pleaded guilty to 23 counts of harassment, extortion, and public mischief following an arrest in December 2014. Among the unnamed youth’s activities: the practice known as swatting (making a false police report in order to instigate a heavily armed response).
The teen’s victims were often women who play League of Legends, and the prosecution in the case detailed one incident in which a University of Arizona student left the school due to threats against her and her family. The defendant admitted to swatting her twice after he was rejected and posted links to resultant news stories on Twitter.
Other victims suffered an assortment of other attacks. The teen would post personal information online (commonly known as “doxxing”), call them late at night, and tamper with home services, including their internet providers.
The teen took responsibility for a more high-profile incident. In 2013, Disneyland was forced to shut down the Space Mountain ride due to a bomb threat.
The Tri-City News details a number of social engineering attempts, including some successes in which the defendant was able to cancel service and add expensive new ones by posing as someone else. The judge in the case has ordered another psychiatric examination. He will be held for 169 days. Sentencing is not yet complete and will resume on June 29.
Swatting has become a common harassment technique, and one that law enforcement is taking seriously. In February, we reported on the story of Joshua Peters whose St. Cloud, Minnesota home was invaded by police.
It was when Peters, who was face-down at gunpoint at the time, told police he is a Twitch streamer that the situation began to ease. A week prior to that, Chicago police arrested a 19-year-old accused of multiple swatting incidents. The FBI is investigating that incident, and the perpetrator faces up to five years in prison.
[Source: Tri-City News via Ars-Technica]
Our Take
Swatting and harassment aren’t pranks. They aren’t harmless. Law enforcement isn’t amused, and if you are caught, you could face serious jail time. If you’ve got a beef with someone, there are many ways to deal with that. This isn’t one of them.