United States District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced Alan W. Filion, an 18-year-old from Lancaster, California, to four years in federal prison for making interstate threats to injure others. This sentence comes after Filion engaged in a series of swatting and threat calls across the United States.
From August 2022 to January 2024, Filion made over 375 calls threatening violence, including bomb threats and mass shooting claims targeting religious institutions, educational establishments, government officials, and individuals nationwide. His actions aimed to provoke large-scale emergency responses by providing false information about explosives and violent crimes.
In some instances, law enforcement officers were dispatched with weapons drawn based on these false reports. Filion boasted online about the impact of his swatting activities, claiming that he could manipulate police responses effectively.
Filion admitted to using swatting both as a recreational activity and for profit. He advertised his services on social media and developed a fee structure for executing such hoaxes.
He was arrested in California on January 18, 2024, due to Florida state charges linked to a May 2023 threat against a religious institution in Sanford, Florida. In this instance, he falsely claimed possession of various weapons and intended to commit mass violence. Filion pleaded guilty in federal court for this threat.
Additionally, Filion confessed to making other threatening calls: one to a high school in Washington State in October 2022; another to a Historically Black College & University in Florida in May 2023; and one more call impersonating a federal officer in Texas in July 2023.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Secret Service led the investigation into these incidents with support from several local law enforcement agencies across different states. Assistant United States Attorney Kara Wick is prosecuting the case with help from multiple U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department of Justice's Counterterrorism Section.