State and federal officials in Georgia, Georgia, and other parts of the country have been accused of producing fake incident reports and hoax bomb threats against dozens of Americans.
The , U. S.  , Attorney ‘s , Office for the District of Columbia , has charged , Thomasz Szabo, 26, of , Romania, and , Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of , Serbia, with one count of conspiracy, 29 works of making threats and submitting false information about bombs, and four counts of making transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce.
According to the national indictment, which was sealed Wednesday, the assassins collected personal information, including home names, for about 40 private individuals and 61 public officials and carried out” swatting” problems by calling in fake situations, in order to bring an armed police response to a home, school or other place where no actual crisis existed.
In , Georgia, at least four express legislators, Lt. Gov.  , Burt Jones , and , U. S.  , Rep.  , Marjorie Taylor Greene , were targeted in December with false 911 calls to their properties.
” I want to bless our law enforcement for their attentive and effective function in prosecuting these criminals. Legal functions like clawing will not be tolerated, and I am glad to see that these criminals have been caught, may be prosecuted and justice will be served”, Jones said,  , Nemanja Radovanovic , in a speech to the AJC.
Republican state Sen.  , Clint Dixon , was at his Buford house Christmas day when nine authorities officers arrived, after a visitor said he had killed his wife and was holding one other prisoner. One of the men claimed Dixon had shot a woman prey and was preparing to ignite a weapon inside the house before swatting him a next time.
Even on , Christmas Day , last month, authorities responded to an alleged house war at Republican state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick’s home in , Marietta. In , Rome, Greene was apartment when people made a false call to police it.
” I was really swatted. This is like the 8th period. Christmas with my home in this place. My local police are the GREATEST and should n’t have to deal with this”, Greene wrote on X, at the time.
Democratic state Sen.  , Kim Jackson , was also at apartment in , Stone Mountain , when officers jumped over her gate. According to the report, a gentleman called and used Jackson’s home address to inform him that a person was being held prisoner.
Republican state Sen.  , John Albers , was no home when officers in , Roswell , responded to a fake visit, but his child child was, according to Channel 2 , Action News.
Other victims included people of , Congress, cabinet-level executive branch leaders, top standard of federal law enforcement authorities, and state officials. The accusation also said that weapon risks were called in against houses of worship, a school, and many companies.
” Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma” , , U. S.  , Attorney , Matthew M. Graves , said, in a news release. No matter where they might be, we will use every resource at our disposal to apprehend and keep the offenders responsible.
The charges were announced in connection with , U. S.  , Secret Service Special Agent in Charge , Matt McCool , of the , Washington Field Office,  , FBI , Assistant Director in Charge , David Sundberg , of the , Washington Field Office,  , U. S. Capitol Police , Chief , J. Thomas Manger, and , FBI , Special Agent in Charge , Alvin M. Winston, Sr., of the , Minneapolis Field Office.
Although the men have been accused of federal crimes, state-level policy was prompted by their reported deeds.
Dixon introduced Senate Bill 421 during this year’s legislative session to enact new penalties for those who send bogus threats and incident reviews. The bill, which received majority support in the , Senate , and near-total aid in the House, was signed by Gov.  , Brian Kemp , and went into effect in July.
___
© 2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
