Connecticut man to be sentenced for series of 'swatting' hoax calls
By Richard Weizel
MILFORD, Conn. (Reuters) - A 22-year-old Connecticut man is due to be sentenced on Tuesday for at least six "swatting" hoax calls to U.S. high schools and colleges last year threatening that bombers or active shooters were about to target the institutions.
The "swatting" incidents led to repeated large deployments of law enforcement to schools including Boston University and the University of Connecticut, as well as evacuations and lockdowns, prosecutors said.
Matthew Tollis faces up to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to convey false threatening information and hoaxes, which also targeted high schools in Texas, New Jersey and Florida.
"Mr. Tollis knowingly and willfully participated in several phone calls to secondary schools and universities during which claims were made that a bombing or active shooter incident was taking place, or about to take place," said Deirdre Daly, U.S. Attorney in Connecticut, in court documents.
Defense attorneys are seeking home confinement followed by supervised release, arguing he was lured into participating in the threats by a group of video game players he had met online who threatened him.
"Mr. Tollis naively thought the best course of action to stop this harassment would be to join" the group that was threatening him in making the calls, attorney Jeremy Weingast wrote in court documents.
Several members of the group are foreign nationals, prosecutors said.
(Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trott)
