California Teen Who Made Hundreds of 'Swatting' Calls of Bomb, Shooting Threats Learns His Fate

A 18-year-old teenager in Los Angeles County was sentenced to two years in prison on Feb. 11 after admitting to making hundreds of "swatting calls" in which he made false reports of bomb and mass shooting threats at different locations around the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Alan W. Filion admitted in a plea agreement to carrying out calls targeting public places such as high schools, colleges and religious institutions. During his plea agreement, Filion admitted of making more than 375 fake calls between August 2022 and January 2024. Federal prosecutors said he intended for the fake calls to result in major emergency responses by law enforcement.

As reported by CBS News, the nearly 400 "swatting calls" left law enforcement officers unavailable to respond to real emergencies. In addition, some calls resulted in officers arriving to a given location with their weapons drawn and detaining people, prosecutors said.

In one of the instances detailed by the Justice Department, prosecutors say that Filion called a public school in Washington on October 2022, threatening to commit mass shooting there and claiming to have planted bombs around the campus.

A few months later, in May 2023, he called a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in Florida, claiming he planted bombs in the calls and ceiling of campus housing which would detonate in about an hour.

Two months later, he called a police department dispatch in Texas, falsely claiming to be a senior federal law enforcement officer and claiming to have killed the officers' mother while while threatening to kill any police officers who respond. Court documents show that Filion used an actual federal law enforcement officer's home address while making the false report.

The California teenager pleaded guilty to four counts of making interstate threats to injure the person of another in November of 2024. Although federal prosecutors said at the time he could face up to five years in prison on each count, Filion ended up receiving 48 months in prison when he was sentenced on Feb. 11.

He was arrested in connection with Florida state charges on Jan. 18. Prosecutors said that in that case, Filion said he was going to "commit a mass shooting" and "kill everyone" at a religious institution in Sanford, Florida, in May 2023 while claiming to have pipe bombs, an illegally modified AR-15, a Glock 17 pistol and Molotov cocktails.