A Romanian citizen pleaded guilty on June 2 in Washington, D.C., to taking part in a plot to use “swatting” calls and bomb threats to intimidate and threaten dozens of US officials.
Thomasz Szabo, 26, who was extradited from Romania in November 2024, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats.
Szabo admitted targeting more than 75 officials, four religious institutions, and multiple journalists as part of a campaign of intimidation, the US Justice Department said in a news release. Officials said Szabo targeted private residences, including the homes and families of senior government officials.
Szabo was the founder and leader of an online community that engaged in bomb threats and “swatting” starting in late 2020, according to court documents.
Szabo's subordinates boasted of "creating massive havoc" in the United States and costing Americans hundreds of thousands of dollars, the department said.
False reports known as “swatting attacks” are meant to provoke a large police response at the home of the person targeted. Officials say they drain resources and can result in injury or even death.
Szabo’s “targeted and ruthless behavior put countless people in danger, including law enforcement, public officials, and ordinary citizens,” said Jeanine Ferris Pirro, US Attorney for Washington, D.C., in the news release.
The Justice Department said members of Szabo’s group targeted at least 25 members of Congress or their family members, six then-current or former senior US federal officials, and at least 13 then-current or former senior federal law enforcement officials. Others targeted included members of the federal judiciary, state government officials, and journalists.
The group’s activities also included threats to commit a mass-shooting at New York City synagogues and detonate explosives at the US Capitol and kill then-President-elect Joe Biden.
Szabo, who is scheduled to be sentenced in October, was charged with Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia. Charges against Radovanovic are still pending.
