this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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Summary

Alan Filion, 18, of Lancaster, California, pleaded guilty to four counts of making interstate threats in one of the most prolific “swatting” cases ever prosecuted.

Filion made over 375 swatting and threat calls from August 2022 to January 2023, targeting schools, religious institutions, government officials, and FBI agents.

Prosecutors say he turned swatting into a business, advertising his services on social media for profit.

His hoaxes, which included bomb and mass shooting threats, caused widespread fear and chaos. Filion faces up to 20 years in prison.

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[–] lennybird 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I kind of just want to send him letters in prison, pages long of just, "hahahahah."

[–] x00z 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Prisons are awful. Put him under house arrest and then swat him. Say he's got the manifesto stashed in his pooper.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 3 points 2 weeks ago

They search there often enough in prison, unfortunately.

[–] pivot_root 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

For good measure, throw in a couple of fake screenshots of users on 4chan and Reddit calling him a "script kiddie". That will get much deeper under his skin than spam will.

[–] lennybird 1 points 2 weeks ago

That's cruel & unusual punishment, that is.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wow, that article was basically a cut and paste of the DOJ release, neither of which said why he was only charged with four counts if he’s done it over 300 times. Thanks, NBC! 🙄

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My guess is that he is only being charged with provable swats after he was 18, greatly reducing the counts.

[–] Makeitstop 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just speculating here, but if a few additional counts aren't likely to add significant time to his sentence, they might also be saving some for later in case they lose or the case gets thrown out for some reason.

[–] Badeendje 1 points 1 week ago

Or when convicted of these.. he gets sent to the next state where his did it to stand trial there. He's probably also in for a significant amount of civil suits.. I'd guess about 300.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"He claimed in a Jan. 19, 2023, online post that his ‘first’ swatting was like ‘2 to 3 years ago’ and that ‘6-9 months ago [he] decided to turn it into a business,’" prosecutors said, noting Filion posted on social media advertising his services.

Tbh impressive

[–] ABCDE 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What's impressive about that? He was shit/stupid enough to get caught also.

[–] FuglyDuck 5 points 2 weeks ago

i mean he advertised on social media.

As if the feds weren't all over that.

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's kind of impressive it's taken him this long to get caught, I guess?

[–] ABCDE 4 points 2 weeks ago

Less than a year so not really.