A Romanian resident charged with leading an online swatting ring targeting dozens of U.S. officials, including several in Georgia, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court.
Thomasz Szabo, 27, received 48 months in prison after pleading guilty last year to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats involving explosives. Swatting is the act of calling in bogus reports of police emergencies, typically to instigate an aggressive response by law enforcement at victims’ homes.
According to authorities, Szabo, who also went by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” served as the ringleader of an online community that engaged in a pattern of bomb threats and swatting directed towards officials and locations across the U.S. as early as late 2020.
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