Thomasz Szabo, 26, a Romanian citizen, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday to leading a “years-long conspiracy that targeted victims across the United States with ‘swatting’ and bomb threats,” including New York City synagogues, then U.S. president-elect Joe Biden and members of Congress and their families, the U.S. Justice Department stated.
“Szabo and his co-conspirators falsely reported ongoing violent emergencies at government buildings, houses of worship and private residences, including the homes of senior government officials,” the Justice Department stated.
The defendant, who also goes by “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher” and who was extradited from Romania in November 2024, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats and false information about explosives. He is slated to be sentenced on Oct. 23.
Szabo’s “targeted and ruthless behavior put countless people in danger, including law enforcement, public officials and ordinary citizens,” stated Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
“Swatting attacks, that is, falsely reporting an ongoing threat of violence at a victim’s home address for the purpose of provoking a police response there, drain precious resources and can result in major injury or even death,” she stated. “Anyone who hijacks police resources for senseless crimes like these will have to answer for their actions.”
“This perpetrator hid behind a computer screen on the other side of the world, believing he could commit these crimes with impunity,” stated Matt McCool, the U.S. Secret Service special agent in charge of the Washington field office. “It was a gross miscalculation to underestimate our determination in pursuing and bringing to justice those who would commit these crimes, wherever they may be.”
In December 2020, Szabo made a false threat of a planned mass shooting at synagogues in New York City to law enforcement and reported a threat to bomb the U.S. Capitol and to kill the president-elect, per court documents.
From Dec. 24, 2023 until the beginning of January 2024, members of Szabo’s group also made threats to bomb at least 25 members of Congress and their family members, at least six former or then-senior officials in the U.S. executive branch, including “multiple” members of the cabinet, and dozens of others, including “multiple” heads of federal law enforcement agencies, federal judges, former or then-state officials and their families, members of the media and “at least four religious institutions,” per the Justice Department.
One member of Szabo’s team bragged to him at the time that “I did 25-plus swattings today” that created “havoc” in the United States and “$500,000-plus in taxpayers wasted in just two days.”