{"id":7804,"date":"2025-06-03T16:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T16:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/romanian-man-pleads-guilty-to-swatting-attacks-on-former-u-s-president-lawmakers-churches\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T16:38:13","slug":"romanian-man-pleads-guilty-to-swatting-attacks-on-former-u-s-president-lawmakers-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/romanian-man-pleads-guilty-to-swatting-attacks-on-former-u-s-president-lawmakers-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian man pleads guilty to swatting attacks on former U.S. president, lawmakers, churches"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a> to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in November 2024, court records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Szabo was charged with Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Charges against Radovanovic are still pending. Online court records indicate that he hasn’t made any court appearances in Washington yet.<\/p>\n

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