Federal prosecutors have charged two European men with swatting, a dangerous hoax aimed at prompting a heavy police response to the homes of various US elected officials, including a former president and other prominent figures, Fox News reports, citing court records.
Thomasz Szabo, 26, from Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, from Serbia, allegedly targeted around 100 people with swatting calls intended to incite aggressive reactions from police. While neither the former president nor other officials involved are explicitly named in the indictment, one alleged victim is identified as a “former elected official from the executive branch” who was swatted on January 9, 2024.
“While some of these calls targeted private citizens chosen seemingly at random, most of the calls targeted public officials, family members of public officials, and other prominent individuals,” a US Secret Service agent’s affidavit noted.
The indictment, which was handed down by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., last Thursday, charges Szabo and Radovanovic with conspiracy and over two dozen counts of making threats, spanning a timeline from December 2020 to January 2024. Reports indicate that the defendants were believed to be in different foreign countries as of last week, and it remains unclear if they have been arrested or have legal representation.
In January, Romanian authorities questioned Szabo, who reportedly admitted to participating in swatting and bomb threats since late 2020. Similarly, Radovanovic was interrogated in Serbia in February, where he detailed a “script” used during his swatting calls, claiming he acted under the direction of a juvenile providing victims’ addresses.
According to the indictment, Szabo orchestrated and led chat groups to facilitate swatting attempts against 40 private citizens and 61 officials, including members of the cabinet, federal law enforcement, judges, and current and former governors.
Notably, in January 2021, just three days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Szabo made a call to a crisis intervention hotline, threatening to detonate explosives at the US Capitol and harm the then-president-elect.
Matthew Graves, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, condemned such actions,
“Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma,” he said.
The FBI has reported an increase in swatting incidents in late 2023 and early 2024. Some of these swatting calls were linked to ongoing court cases involving former President Trump, including a false emergency call reporting a shooting at the home of US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s election subversion case. Additionally, a similar fake emergency call targeted Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith on Christmas Day 2023.
