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    • Teen suspect pleads guilty to threats in Florida
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    Teen suspect pleads guilty to threats in Florida

    Online Niel Posted on

    The teenager made more than 375 threatening and threatening calls across the country, officials say

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    A California teenager has pleaded guilty to four federal charges of interstate threatening to injure the person of another — also known as “beaten“ — which included making a false police report about his perpetration a mass shooting at a mosque in Seminole County and calling in a bomb threat at a Florida university last year. He faces up to five years in prison on each charge.

    Alan W. Filion, 18, of Lancaster, Calif., made more than 375 threatening and threatening calls across the country, according to the data a statement from the Department of Justice Wednesday. Filion was 16 when he made most of the calls, the report said, and while it started for fun, he turned it into a business, making his rent.

    “For more than 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,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in communicated. “He has caused deep fear and chaos and will now face the consequences of his actions.”

    Last May, Fillion called the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office to say he was going to carry out a mass shooting at a mosque in Sanford, with gunshots sound effects in the background. He also pleaded guilty to making a bomb threat against a “Historically Black College and University in the Northern District of Florida,” according to the report.

    The Justice Department did not specify which university beyond that description. Florida A&M University received a bomb threat on May 18, 2023.

    As of 2021, striking has been a felony in Florida, which leads the nation in school sketch threats. There were 1,564 school threats affecting 1.2 million students in the Sunshine State in 2023-24, according to TDR Technology Solutions, a research firm that tracks the calls. The second highest number of threats was just 385 in Texas.

    In July, an 11-year-old Virginia boy was accused of making calls to schools in Flagler County.

    Here’s what we know.

    Who is Alan W. Filion and what is Torswats?

    A Wired.com investigation said experts believed Filion was one of the most prolific whistleblowers in American history, operating a service called Torswats and claiming responsibility for hundreds of false reports of active shooters and bomb threats.

    Conformable The motherboardTorswats offered to trade targets for $75 per school or $50 for an “extreme beat” against someone’s house, with discounts for repeat business and negotiations to fight famous people. In a January 2023 post,

    Filion claimed in an online post that when he hits someone, he “typically has the police drag the victim and their families out of the house, handcuff them and search the house for bodies,” the Justice report said.

    What did Filion plead guilty to?

    Alan Filion pleaded guilty in federal court to four counts of interstate threatening to injure the person of another. Here are details about those incidents released by federal prosecutors:

    • October 2022: A call to a public high school in the Western District of Washington where he threatened to commit a mass shooting and claimed to have planted bombs throughout the school.
    • May 2023: A call claiming he had an illegally modified AR-15, a Glock 17 pistol, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails, and that he planned to “mass shoot” and “kill everyone” he saw at a mosque in Sanford.
    • May 2023: A call to a historically black college and university in the Northern District of Florida in which he claimed to have placed bombs in the walls and ceilings of campus housing that would detonate in about an hour.
    • July 2023: A caller to a local police department dispatch number in the Western District of Texas, in which he falsely identified himself as a federal law enforcement officer, provided the officer’s residential address to the dispatcher, claimed to have killed his mother (of the federal officer), and threatened to kill any police officers who responded.

    What happened at the Sanford mosque?

    On May 12, 2023, approximately 30 law enforcement officers rushed to the Masjid Al Hayy Mosque in Sanford after receiving a call from a male voice saying he had a handgun and explosive devices and was going to kill everyone, right Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

    “Hello, I’m going to commit a mass shooting in the name of Satan,” said the voice, according to reports. The call ended with the sound of gunfire in the background, SCSO said. Deputies rushed to the area but found nothing there.

    Wired reported that, according to police records, there were calls from the same voice-over-IP phone number claiming similar threats to at least two other mosques in Florida on the same day. Also that day, Daytona Beach police responded to a hoax call of a bomb threat against the Islamic Center of Daytona Beach.

    Filion was arrested on January 18 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following a months-long investigation by the Homeland Security Division of the SCSO, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

    He was extradited to Seminole County, Florida on January 30, where Seminole County Sheriff’s Office accused him of several crimes.

    Did FAMU receive a bomb threat?

    Florida A&M University received a bomb threat on its main campus in May 2023, days after a similar threat to another HBCU, Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

    The year before, several similar threats were made at about 13 HBCUs across the country, including Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida

    What are swatting calls?

    “Swatting” is the act of making a false call to law enforcement in hopes of deliberately provoking a large police or SWAT team response. The caller, who may say they are the perpetrator or appear terrified, often reports shots fired, someone killed, or people (especially children) being held hostage. Sometimes it is addressed to a specific person, sometimes the target is a government office or schoolsometimes it’s just done randomly to cause chaos and tie up resources.

    “Alan Filion not only intended to cause as much harm as possible, but he also sought to profit from these criminal activities by offering swatting services for a fee,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “Swatting is a serious danger for the first time. responders and victims, wastes significant time and resources, and creates fear in communities. The FBI will continue to work with partners to aggressively investigate and hold accountable anyone who engages in these activities.

    Many early swatting cases were against players streaming themselves online while playing, which meant patients could enjoy watching the police tear down the door behind the hapless victim in real time. It quickly became a way to harass anyone the caller wished to antagonize and possibly cause harm.

    Swatting was on the rise against political figures; schools, libraries and hospitals accused of supporting trans or LGBTQ students and causes; and judges and lawyers in controversial trials, including that judge and prosecutor in President-elect Donald Trump’s DC election interference case.

    In addition to tying up law enforcement resources and traumatizing students, staff and parentsswatting is extremely dangerous. A person was killed by police in 2017 when they responded to a knocking call and in 2021, a 60-year-old grandfather he died of a heart attack when the police arrived at his home after the spies called him because they wanted his name on Twitter.

    Is change illegal in Florida?

    Swatting is illegal in Florida. Sending a threat via social media, text message, or email is a federal crime (threat to interstate communications). People who post or send such threats can receive up to five years in federal prison or face state or local charges.

    Filion, who has remained in custody since his arrest, was charged under the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JDA). He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 11, 2025.

    In Florida, the beating was already illegal as a false report to law enforcement, a first-degree misdemeanor. But in 2021, in an effort to repress on the growing practice, Florida lawmakers passed HB 371False Reports of Crimes, which made hit and run a third-degree felony if someone was injured as a result of being hit and a second-degree felony if someone died in the process. Anyone convicted of swatting must also pay full restitution for any costs incurred.

    You can also be charged with a variety of things, such as conspiracy to commit access device fraud and unauthorized access to a protected computer, misuse of 911 systems, and other related crimes.

    “The FBI and US Secret Service are investigating the case,” the report said. “Valuable assistance was provided by the Seminole County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office; Anacortes (Washington) Police Department; Florida Department of Law Enforcement; California Department of Justice; Los Angeles County (California) Sheriff’s Office and Volusia County. (Florida) Sheriff’s Office.”

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