A Washington state man who made 20 false reports of bombs and shootings in Georgia and around the U.S. and Canada, prompting real emergency responses, has been sentenced to three years in prison, U.S. authorities said.
Ashton Connor Garcia, 21, of Bremerton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington. Garcia pleaded guilty in January to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives.
As part of his plea deal, Garcia admitted he intended the calls to cause the deployment of SWAT teams, bomb squads and other law enforcement to the targeted locations.
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