2 men from Europe charged with ‘swatting’ plot targeting members of Congress, senior U.S. officials

WASHINGTON —  Two men from Europe are charged in a plot to call in bogus reports of police emergencies to harass and threaten members of Congress, senior U.S. government officials and dozens of other people, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia targeted at least 100 people with “swatting” calls to instigate aggressive responses by police officers at the victims’ homes, the federal indictment alleges.

The calls also included threats to carry out mass shootings at New York City synagogues and to set off explosives at the U.S. Capitol and a university, the indictment said. A federal grand jury in Washington handed up the indictment Aug. 22.

Online court records in Washington didn’t say whether Szabo and Radovanovic had been arrested or whether they are represented by attorneys. A court filing accompanying their indictment said investigators believed they were in separate foreign countries last week.

Szabo and Radovanovic are both charged with conspiracy and more than two dozen counts of making threats. The plot spanned more than three years, from December 2020 through January 2024, according to prosecutors.

“Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.

Szabo organized and moderated chat groups to coordinate swatting attacks against 40 private citizens and 61 officials, including Cabinet-level officials, the head of a federal law enforcement agency, a federal judge, current and former governors and other state officials, the indictment said.

In December 2023 and January 2024, Radovanovic allegedly called government agencies to falsely report killings and imminent suicides or kidnappings at the homes of U.S. senators, House members and elected state officials, according to the indictment. One of the calls led to a car crash involving injuries, the indictment alleges.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.