Bad calls: Philly man pleads to making fake terror attack tips on fantasy football rival
A Philadelphia man has pleaded guilty to charges involved after he made fake tips to various officials in order to falsely accuse a fantasy football rival of planning to commit terror attacks.
On Wednesday, United States Attorney Jacqueline Romero announced that Matthew Gabriel, 25, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure after he targeted a member of his fantasy football group with false terror attack claims.
According to the plea agreement, the calls began after Gabriel had an “online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group” and learned that this individual planned to study abroad in Norway in August of 2023.
On August 3, 2023, court documents note, while he was in Pennsylvania, Gabriel submitted an anonymous tip through the internet to the Norwegian Police Security Service, also known as Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste, “claiming that a member of his fantasy football chat group was going to carry out a mass shooting in Norway.”
As detailed by Romero’s office, Gabriel’s fake tip claimed his rival was working with others in order to “take out as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store.”
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