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Crime

Romanian National Pleads Guilty To 'Swatting' Over 75 Public Officials (nypost.com) 31

Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report: A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a "swatting" ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases "Plank," "Jonah" and "Cypher," 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to the Justice Department.

Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials and state officials. Szabo, who was extradited from Romania last November, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats. He is slated to be sentenced in a Washington, DC, federal court in October. [...] Charges against Radovanovic are still pending.

Romanian National Pleads Guilty To 'Swatting' Over 75 Public Officials

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  • Odd, is that illegal when in Romania?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      It doesn’t happen there because their cops aren’t a literal gang of trigger happy morons. I bet the cops there even get in trouble for shooting the wrong person.

      • It doesn't happen there because if they find him he's as good as dead.

        iPhone issue - trademarks engaged.
        • It doesn't happen there because if they find him he's as good as dead. He wants Americans swatted, he hates us.

      • It doesn’t happen there because their cops aren’t a literal gang of trigger happy morons. I bet the cops there even get in trouble for shooting the wrong person.

        Tell me that you approve of Americans being Swatted without saying you approve of Americans being swatted.

        • I bet the cops there even get in trouble for shooting the wrong person.

          Tell me that you approve of Americans being Swatted without saying you approve of Americans being swatted.

          That's head-up-ass-backwards. He's complaining about it, not celebrating it. Although frankly, if more of the world celebrates harm coming to us than usual of late, it is only understandable. We are truly one of the globe's greatest sources of harm.

        • Tell me that you approve of Americans being Swatted without saying you approve of Americans being swatted.

          How is pointing out that extradition is difficult if something doesn't meet the criteria to trigger a treaty somehow approval of the underlying action in your head? Don't Slashdot drunk buddy.

      • It doesn't happen there because their cops aren't a literal gang of trigger happy morons. I bet the cops there even get in trouble for shooting the wrong person.

        You might have a point. Andrew and Tristan Tate are still breathing. Every time they're detained it looks like a SWAT convention sponsored by Red Cell.

        Trigger control indeed.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        It doesn’t happen there because their cops aren’t a literal gang of trigger happy morons. I bet the cops there even get in trouble for shooting the wrong person.

        It's a strange state of affairs when Americans trust cops in a developing country to be more honest and restrained.

        Cops in my country famously, do not even carry firearms. Of course the last time I had to deal with one, he let me off a speeding ticket with a bit of a talking to (I don't know if I was speeding, knowing me I probably was, but I know the roadside is not the place to argue with a cop).

    • by rta ( 559125 )

      Odd, is that illegal when in Romania?

      yes?

      Art.298 – (1) Any threatening of a person or
      community with the dissemination or use of products,
      substances, materials, micro-organisms or toxins likely to
      endanger the health of persons or animals or the environment,
      shall be punished by strict imprisonment from 2 to 5 years. ...

      Art.299 – The act of causing the alarm with no good
      reasons of a person or of the public, of bodies specialised to
      intervene in case of danger or of bodies maintaining public
      order, by mail, telephone or any other means of remote
      transmission with regard to the dissemination or use of
      products, substances, materials, micro-organisms or toxins of
      those in Art.298 para.(1), shall be punished by strict
      imprisonment from one to 3 years or by days/fine.

      https://www.vertic.org/media/N... [vertic.org] (and others)

      i assume it's illegal most places...

      (unrelatedly ... while the guy may be Romanian ... he's one of those Hungarian Romanians... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarians_in_Romania ) )

    • Bogus 112 calls in Romania are punished with a fine or community service, bomb threats are punished with prison.

    • Well, he was extradited to the US last year and is in custody, so... yes.

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