Lancaster teen charged with hundreds of swatting calls – NBC Los Angeles

A Lancaster teenager accused of making hundreds of swatting calls and offering swatting services for a fee pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal.

Alan W. Filion, 18, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Florida to four counts of making interstate threats to injure the person of another. In each case he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

According to prosecutors, Filion made more than 375 hit and threatening calls from August 2022 to January 2024. The calls included bomb threats and shootings against religious institutions, high schools, colleges and universities, government officials, and individuals throughout the United States.

Filion, who was 16 at the time most of the calls were made, wanted to trigger a large-scale law enforcement and emergency response at the locations, prosecutors said. In some swatting cases, officers entered locations with guns drawn and detained people, the Justice Department said.

Filioni also posted ads on social media for paid swatting services, prosecutors said.

“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 Assistant Director Paul Abbate. “Swatting poses great danger to first responders and victims, wastes significant time and resources, and creates fear in communities. The FBI will continue to work with partners to vigorously investigate and hold accountable anyone who engages in these activities.”

He was arrested Jan. 18 in California on Florida state charges that he made a threat against a religious institution in May 2023, authorities said. According to the DOJ, Filion claimed he had an illegally modified AR-15, a Glock 17 pistol, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails.

He said he would immediately “commit a mass shooting” and “kill everyone” he saw, court documents say.

Filion pleaded guilty Wednesday to making that threat and three other threatening calls, including ones directed at a Washington high school; a historically black college in Florida; and a call to the emergency number of a local police department in Texas in which he falsely represented himself as a high-ranking federal law enforcement officer, told the dispatcher the officer's home address, claimed to have killed his mother, and threatened to kill any responding police officers, according to the DOJ.

A date for sentencing has not been scheduled.

“This prosecution and today's guilty plea reaffirm the Department of Justice's determination to use every means to hold accountable every individual who endangers our communities through gossip and false threats,” said Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “For more than a year, Alan Filion targeted religious institutions, schools, government officials, and other innocent victims with hundreds of false threats of impending mass shootings, bombings, and other violent crimes. He caused great fear and chaos and will now face the consequences of his actions.”