Teen Who Made Hundreds of Swatting Calls Sentenced

UPDATE Feb 11, 2025 3:22 PM CST

A California teenager behind hundreds of swatting calls and bomb threats has been sentenced to four years in federal prison. According to a plea agreement, Alan Winston Filion, 18, made more than 375 such calls across the US threatening religious institutions, high schools, historically Black colleges, and even the Pentagon between the summer of 2022 and his arrest in January last year, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Prosecutors say he was 16 years old when he made most of the calls, reports the AP. In November, he pleaded guilty to four counts of interstate threats to injure another, including a threat to carry out a mass shooting at a Florida mosque "in the name of Satan."

Feb 1, 2024 4:40 PM CST

Hundreds of swatting crimes and bomb threats can be traced to one 17-year-old California teenager, law enforcement officials say. Alan Filion was extradited this week to Florida, per the Guardian. He appeared before a judge Wednesday in Seminole County, where he faces charges that include three felonies in connection with the swatting of a mosque last year, per WOFL. That hoax brought about 30 law enforcement officers to the Masjid Al Hayy Mosque. The caller had played the sound of gunfire in the background while telling dispatchers he was going to the mosque to commit a "mass shooting in the name of Satan."

Multiple agencies were working to track down the person responsible for calls about phony attacks on high schools, historically Black colleges and universities, mosques, and federal agents, as well as bomb threats to the Pentagon, US senators, and the US Supreme Court. Court records show the trail that led to Filion ran through a YouTube channel, chats on Discord, and usernames related to The Lord of the Rings, Wired reports. Officials say he began making the calls in 2021. Filion, who will be tried as an adult, pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond. His attorney declined to comment on the case, per CNN. Wired breaks down the digital pursuit here. (More swatting stories.)