Teen pleads guilty in hundreds of 'swatting' calls: DOJ

A teen has pleaded guilty to placing hundreds of "swatting" calls across the U.S., the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

The department said Wednesday that Alan W. Filion, 18, of Lancaster, Calif., “pleaded guilty today to four counts of making interstate threats to injure the person of another.” Filion could spend up to five years in prison for each count, authorities said, adding that his sentencing is set for mid-February of next year.

The department, citing a plea agreement, said “Filion made more than 375 swatting and threat calls” between late 2022 and early 2024. In some of those calls, "he claimed to have planted bombs in the targeted locations or threatened to detonate bombs and/or conduct mass shootings at those locations,” officials added.

Filion’s calls were aimed at “religious institutions, high schools, colleges and universities, government officials,” as well as “numerous individuals” nationwide, the department said.

Swatting incidents, in which a false claim of a major event such as a kidnapping or mass shooting is reported to authorities an an effort to prompt a significant police response, made national headlines last year when multiple political figures said their homes were targeted on Christmas.

“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,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “He caused profound fear and chaos and will now face the consequences of his actions.”

The Hill has reached out to attorneys for Filion for comment.