California teen sentenced for making hoax calls in nationwide 'swatting spree'
A Southern California teenager was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for making hundreds of "swatting" calls and threats to conduct shootings or detonate bombs against religious institutions, schools and individual people across the country.
Alan W. Filion, 18, was arrested on Jan. 18, 2024, in California after calling a religious institution in Florida and threatening to commit a mass shooting, the Department of Justice said. It was just the tip of the iceberg in what officials called the teen's "nationwide swatting spree."
In a plea deal, Filion admitted to making about 375 swatting and fake threat calls between August 2022 and January 2024. In many of the calls, he told authorities he or others had dangerous weapons such as guns and explosives and intended to commit violent crimes, all in an effort to draw a large law enforcement response to the targeted location.
Filion targeted a high school in Washington, a historically Black college in Florida and a federal law enforcement officer, the DOJ said.
Calling Filion “a serial swatter for both profit and recreation,” the DOJ said the teen posted about swatting experience on social media and placed posts advertising his services and swatting-for-a-fee structure.
"Filion became a serial swatter for both profit and recreation," the DOJ said in a news release.
What is swatting?
The FBI describes “swatting” as a hoax designed to draw an emergency law enforcement response, often creating a situation where a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team arrives ready for a possible violent encounter. Sometimes, an individual does it to single out someone specific, but the calls can also be done in waves as a trend to seemingly random targets.
“The individuals who engage in this activity use technology to make it appear that the emergency call is coming from the victim’s phone,” said one FBI public announcement in 2013. "Sometimes swatting is done for revenge, sometimes as a prank. Either way, it is a serious crime, and one that has potentially dangerous consequences.”
The FBI first warned about the phenomenon in 2008 and has arrested hundreds of people over the years across the country on federal charges stemming from swatting incidents.
“The FBI looks at these crimes as a public safety issue,” Kevin Kolbye, an assistant special agent in charge of its Dallas Division, said in the 2013 public warning. “It’s only a matter of time before somebody gets seriously injured as a result of one of these incidents.”
Teenager posted about swatting calls online
Filion, from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, pleaded guilty to making threatening calls and saying he’d planted bombs in specific locations. He also said he’d detonate bombs or carry out mass shootings, the DOJ said.
According to prosecutors, he targeted religious institutions, high schools, colleges and universities, government officials and other people across the country. When he made most of the calls, he was 16 years old.
The calls led to responses from police officers and emergency services in large numbers, the DOJ said. He gave authorities fake names and made fake claims. In some cases, officers responding to the calls entered homes with their weapons drawn and detained people inside the homes.
In a Jan. 20, 2023 post, Filion said his goal when swatting is to get “the cops to drag the victim and their families out of the house, cuff them and search the house for dead bodies.”
Teen made swatting calls across the country
Altogether, Filion was sentenced for four of the threatening calls:
- October 2022 – Suspect called a public high school in the Western District of Washington and threatened to commit a mass shooting. He claimed he planted bombs throughout the school.
- May 2023 – Suspect targeted a religious institution in Sanford, Florida, about 28 miles northeast of Orlando. He said he had an illegally modified AR-15, a glock 17 pistol, pipe bombs, and Molotov cocktails. He claimed he was about to “commit a mass shooting” and “kill everyone” in his sight, the DOJ said.
- May 2023 – Suspect called a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Northern District of Florida. He said he’d placed bombs in the walls and ceilings of campus housing that would detonate in about an hour.
- July 2023 – Suspect called a local police department dispatch number in the Western District of Texas and pretended to be a senior federal law enforcement officer. He gave a dispatcher the officer’s residential address and claimed to have killed his mother. He also threatened to kill any responding police officers.
What should you do if you are a victim of swatting?
When 9-1-1 receives a call reporting a threat of violence or a violent act is taking place at your location or institution, the responding law enforcement officers will treat the threat as genuine until they can determine it is a swatting call, the DHS wrote. If several law enforcement officers arrive unexpectedly at your location/institution, remain calm, keep your hands visible, and follow instructions.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, Paste BN