Two foreign nationals have been charged with making hoax bomb threats and false emergency reports targeting dozens of American citizens, including state and federal officials in Georgia and around the nation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has charged Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of making threats and submitting false information about explosives, and four counts of making transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce.
According to the federal indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday, the conspirators collected personal information, including home addresses, for about 40 private citizens and 61 public officials and carried out “swatting” attacks by calling in fake emergencies, in order to bring an armed police response to a home, school or other location where no actual emergency existed.
In Georgia, at least four state senators, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene were targeted in December with fake 911 calls to their homes.
“I want to thank our law enforcement personnel for their diligent and efficient work to bring these criminals to justice. Criminal acts like swatting will not be tolerated, and I am glad to see that these offenders have been caught, will be prosecuted and justice will be served,” Jones said, Nemanja Radovanovic in a statement to the AJC.
Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon was at his Buford home Christmas night when nine police officers arrived, after a caller said he had killed his wife and was holding someone else hostage. He was then swatted a second time, with one of the men saying Dixon had shot a female victim and was preparing to detonate a bomb in the house, Dixon said.
Also on Christmas Day last year, police responded to an alleged home invasion at Republican state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick’s house in Marietta. In Rome, Greene was home when someone made a false call to police there.
“I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here. My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn’t have to deal with this,” Greene wrote on X, at the time.
Democratic state Sen. Kim Jackson was also at home in Stone Mountain when police jumped over her fence. Officers said a man called and used Jackson’s home address as the spot where a woman was being held hostage.
Republican state Sen. John Albers was not home when police in Roswell responded to a hoax call, but his adult son was, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Other victims included members of Congress, cabinet-level executive branch officials, senior official of federal law enforcement agencies, and state officials. The indictment also said that bomb threats were called in against houses of worship, a university, and several businesses.
“Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said, in a news release. “We will use every tool at our disposal to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable, no matter where they might be.”
The charges were announced in conjunction with U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool of the Washington Field Office, FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the Washington Field Office, U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston, Sr., of the Minneapolis Field Office.
Although the men have been charged with federal crimes, their alleged actions prompted legislation on the state level.
During this year’s legislative session, Dixon introduced Senate Bill 421, which increase penalties for people who transmit false threats and emergency reports. The bill, which received unanimous support in the Senate and near-total support in the House, was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp and went into effect in July.
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