WA Man Sentenced To Three Years For Swatting Spree

June 6, 2024 Crime, News

From the Justice Department:

A 21-year-old Bremerton, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to three years in prison for four federal felonies stemming from his extensive illegal harassing activity known as “swatting,” announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Ashton Connor Garcia pleaded in January 2024 to two counts of extortion, and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said, “Swatting is cruel. It is uncivilized. It is the willful terrorizing of other human beings.” Judge Settle added that he saw great need to “send a message that engaging in swatting will get more than a slap on the hand.”

According to the plea agreement and records in the case, from early June 2022 through March 2023, Garcia used voice over internet technology and social media platforms to make false emergency calls to dispatch services while urging others watch his illegal activity via social media.

In his plea agreement, Garcia admits he intended his calls to cause a large-scale deployment of special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, bomb squads, and other police units to the targeted locations. He made these calls with malicious intent to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against certain individuals and organizations, and to obtain items of value through extortion.

The plea agreement details 20 different false emergency reports targeting victims in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Washington, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Garcia gathered personal information about his victims, and then threatened some of his victims with harm, including placing swatting calls to send an armed police presence to their home.

Garcia demanded money, virtual currency, credit card information, or sexually explicit photos from some of the people he threatened.

Garcia made fake reports to non-emergency police numbers claiming things such as that he and others had planted explosive devices in particular locations. He falsely accused other individuals of committing crimes, such as murder, rape, and kidnapping, and he falsely claimed that these individuals possessed dangerous weapons, such as knives, firearms, and explosive devices.

Frequently, he used the same scripts claiming that his father was holding him hostage, false claims that he shot his parents, false claims that his father stabbed his mother, and false claims that his father had raped female members of the family.

Read the full press release.



Tags

© joemygod.com 2025