Romanian man pleads guilty to swatting attacks on former U.S. president, lawmakers, churches

CBS News

2 days ago

A Romanian man has pleaded guilty to leading an extensive plot to use swatting calls and bomb threats to intimidate dozens of people, including a former United States president and multiple members of Congress, authorities announced on Monday.
The allegedly years-long scheme involved bogus police emergencies and false reports of violent incidents at government buildings, churches and private residences, including some senior government officials' homes, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C.
Thomasz Szabo, 26, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23 by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. capital, after he was extradited from Romania in November 2024, court records show.
"This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation's security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. "This case reflects our continued focus on protecting the American people and working with international partners to stop these threats at their source."
Szabo was charged with Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats.
The two men targeted roughly 100 people with swatting calls to instigate an aggressive response by police officers at the victims' homes, a federal indictment alleges.
A U.S. Secret Service agent's affidavit doesn't name the former U.S. president or any other officials identified as victims of the hoax calls.
The two defendants are not explicitly charged in the indictment with threatening a former president, but one of the alleged victims is identified as a "former elected official from the executive branch" who was swatted on Jan. 9. 2024. Radovanovic falsely reported a killing and threatened to set off an explosion at that person's home, the indictment says.
Szabo told Radovanovic that they should pick targets from both the Republican and Democratic parties because "we are not on any side," the indictment says.
Charges against Radovanovic are still pending. Online court records indicate that he hasn't made any court appearances in Washington yet.