California teen pleads guilty in Florida to making hundreds of "swatting" calls
MIAMI - A Lancaster, California teen accused of making hundreds of false bomb threats, mass shooting threats and "swatting" calls across the country has pleaded guilty in Florida to four counts of making interstate threats to injure another person.
"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. He caused profound fear and chaos and will now face the consequences of his actions," U.S. Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
Filion faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
The threats
From approximately August 2022 to January 2024, Filion, who was 16 at the time, made more than 375 swatting and threat calls, including calls in which he claimed to have planted bombs or threatened to detonate bombs, or threatened mass shootings at those locations, according to a plea agreement. He targeted high schools, colleges and universities, government officials and religious institutions.
"Alan Filion not only intended to cause as much harm as possible, but he also attempted to profit from these criminal activities by offering swatting-for-a-fee services," said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. "Swatting poses severe danger to first responders and victims, wastes significant time and resources, and creates fear in communities."
According to court documents, in a Jan. 19 online post, Filion said that his "first" swatting was like "2 to 3 years ago" and that "6-9 months ago [he] decided to turn it into a business. . ." On several occasions, Filion reportedly placed posts on social media channels advertising his services and swatting-for-a-fee structure.
Last January, Filion, 17, was arrested in California on Florida state charges arising from a May 2023 threat he made to a religious institution in Sanford. In that threat, he allegedly claimed to have a Glock 17 pistol, an illegally modified AR-15, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. He said that he was going to imminently "commit a mass shooting" and "kill everyone" he saw, according to court documents.
On Wednesday, Nov. 13, Filion pleaded guilty in federal court to making that threat.
Filion has also pleaded guilty to making three other threatening calls; an October 2022 call to a public high school in the Western District of Washington, a May 2023 call to a Historically Black College & University in the Northern District of Florida and a July 2023 call to a local police department dispatch number in the Western District of Texas. In that call, he falsely claimed to be a law enforcement officer and said he had killed his mother, according to court documents. He reportedly gave the dispatcher the real officer's address and threatened to kill any police officers who showed up to take him into custody.