2 Eastern Europeans charged with 'swatting' U.S. officials, Congress: DOJ

WASHINGTON – Two foreigners from Romania and Serbia have been indicted for allegedly “swatting” more than 100 victims including members of Congress and Cabinet-level officials by reporting fake bomb threats or other emergencies, including at the Capitol, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, are each charged with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce.

The case represents another example of threats public officials are increasingly enduring. The Justice Department created a task force to combat threats against election officials, which spiked after former President Donald Trump falsely alleged the 2020 election was stolen from him. Capitol Police reported in January that threats against lawmakers rose to 8,008 last year from 5,206 in 2018.

A grand jury handed up an indictment against the two men in August 2022 but kept it sealed in an attempt to arrest the foreigners. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday. Radovanovic was named to the Secret Service's 10 most wanted list.

Szabo and Radovanovic were allegedly part of a larger conspiracy from December 2020 to January 2024 to obtain home and business addresses for victims. The defendants then falsely reported killings, kidnappings or attempted suicides to spark an emergency response, including from police SWAT teams, according to the indictment.

The indictment doesn’t name the victims. But they include 61 government officials, 40 private citizens, four businesses, four religious institutions and one university.

"Swatting is not a victimless prank − it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources and inflicts significant emotional trauma," U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said.

Matt McCool, the Secret Service special agent in charge of the Washington field office, said the suspects “left a trail of victims across the United States, abusing critical law enforcement resources to terrorize elected officials, public figures, and private citizens.”

The indictment reads like a laundry list of fake threats, including:

• Jan. 17, 2021, Szabo allegedly called a crisis hotline to convey threats to detonate explosives at the Capitol and kill then-President-elect Joe Biden.
• Jan. 6, 2022, Szabo allegedly posted a threat to a public internet forum threatening to commit mass murder and detonate explosives at the Capitol.
• On Dec. 25, 2023, Radovanovic allegedly called a government agency to falsely report a homicide and imminent suicide at the home of a House member.
• On Dec. 25, 2023, Radovanovic also allegedly called to report a homicide and kidnapping at the home of a senator.
• On Dec. 27, 2023, Radovanovic allegedly reported a homicide and kidnapping at the home of the head of a federal law enforcement agency.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2 Eastern Europeans charged with 'swatting' U.S. officials, Congress: DOJ