California Teenager Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Nationwide Swatting Spree

Alan W. Filion, 18, of Lancaster, California, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for making interstate threats to injure the person of another.

According to the plea agreement, from approximately August 2022 to January 2024, Filion made over 375 swatting and threat calls, including calls in which he claimed to have planted bombs in the targeted locations or threatened to detonate bombs and/or conduct mass shootings at those locations. Filion targeted religious institutions, high schools, colleges and universities, government officials, and numerous individuals across the United States.

Filion intended his calls to cause large-scale deployment of police and emergency services units to the targeted locations. During these calls, he provided information to law enforcement and emergency services agencies that he knew to be false, such as false names, false claims that he and others had placed explosives in particular locations, false claims that he and others possessed dangerous weapons, including firearms and explosives, and false claims that he and other individuals had committed, or intended to imminently commit, violent crimes.

In some instances, armed law enforcement officers approached and entered a targeted residence with their weapons drawn and detained individuals that occupied the residence. Indeed, Filion claimed in a post on Jan. 20, 2023, that when he swats someone, he “usually get[s] the cops to drag the victim and their families out of the house cuff them and search the house for dead bodies.” Additionally, Filion’s calls caused law enforcement officers and dispatchers to respond, and to be unavailable in response to other emergencies.

Read more: Department of Justice