L.A. County 18-year-old pleads guilty to making 375 ‘swatting’ calls throughout the U.S.

A Lancaster 18-year-old pleaded guilty Wednesday to phoning in hundreds of false threats of imminent bombings, mass shootings and violence targeting locations across the U.S., including places of worship and schools.

Alan W. Filion pleaded guilty to four counts of making interstate threats to injure people, federal authorities said.

From August 2022 to January 2024, Filion made more than 375 “swatting” and threatening hoax calls, including calls in which he threatened to detonate bombs or conduct mass shootings at targeted locations, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Swatting occurs when a false crime or emergency is reported at a specific location to provoke an aggressive law enforcement response, often by a SWAT team. According to federal officials, it was Filion’s intention to cause large-scale deployment of police and emergency services units at targeted locations.

Filion, who was 16 when he made a majority of the calls, targeted religious institutions, high schools, colleges and universities, as well as government officials and numerous individuals across the nation.

When he placed a swatting call at a targeted location, Filion would call emergency responders and provide them with false information about having placing dangerous explosives, telling authorities that he and others had firearms and explosives, and that he or other individuals had committed or intended to imminently commit violent crimes.

In an online post, Filion claimed that when he conducts a “swatting” call he “usually get[s] the cops to drag the victim and their families out of the house, cuff them and search the house for dead bodies.”

“Swatting poses severe danger to first responders and victims, wastes significant time and resources, and creates fear in communities,” said Paul Abbate, FBI deputy director.

In 2023 Filion tried to turn the hoax calls into a business and made posts on social media, advertising his services and swatting-for-a-fee structure.

It’s unclear if he was ever paid to make a hoax call or had any clients.

Filion was arrested in January in California on Florida state charges arising from a May 2023 threat he made to carry out a mass shooting at Masjid Al Hayy, a mosque in Sanford, Fla.

California

L.A. County teen accused of ‘swatting’ Florida mosque, suspected in other hoax threats

Alan Winston Filion has been arrested on suspicion of swatting Masjid Al Hayy mosque in Sanford, Fla. Authorities say he may be connected to other incidents.

Feb. 3, 2024

In his call to authorities about the mosque, he claimed that he had an illegally modified AR-15, a Glock 17 pistol, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. During the call he played an audio of gunfire in the background, according to Florida prosecutors.

Filion has remained in custody since his arrest on state charges. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Filion has also pleaded guilty to making three other threatening calls, according to the Department of Justice. One call was made in October 2022 to a public high school in Washington, in which he threatened to commit a mass shooting and claimed to have planted bombs throughout the school, authorities said.

Another call was made in May 2023 to a predominantly Black college in Florida, in which he claimed to have placed bombs in the walls and ceilings of campus housing and threatened to detonate them in about an hour.

The third call occurred in July 2023 and was made to a local police department dispatch number in Texas, in which he falsely identified himself as a senior federal law enforcement officer, provided the officer’s residential address to the dispatcher, claimed to have killed the officer’s mother, and threatened to kill any responding police officers.

“He caused profound fear and chaos and will now face the consequences of his actions,” said Lisa Monaco, deputy attorney general.