NewsVine_Mariyam
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I can't help but wonder if he was intentionally trying to get someone killed. Good thing that he's an adult although he looks rather young...
WASHINGTON — A man who described himself as a ‘cyber terrorist’ while taunting police and emergency dispatchers during his false reports of violent crimes was sentenced to prison Tuesday morning.
Ashton Connor Garcia, 21, of Bremerton, pleaded guilty to federal charges of extortion and threats for which he will spend three years in federal custody, followed by a term of three years of federal supervision.
Garcia admitted he used an online phone service to call in fake emergencies to agencies in the United States and Canada while live streaming the calls on Discord in 2022.
Prosecutors alleged Garcia bragged that he couldn’t be caught and called himself a terrorist.
Federal investigators alleged Garcia targeted dozens of people in at least 13 states and Canada.
In one case in Edmonton, Alberta, Garcia reported a fake emergency at the home of a mother and an 8-year-old boy who were asleep. The family was awoken by dozens of officers with rifles arriving at their home in the middle of the night.
“Garcia often made several hoax calls per week and sometimes multiple calls in a single day. He treated swatting like a form of entertainment in which he was the star performer. He set up internet chatrooms devoted to swatting, and he invited people to come watch his swatting calls as if it were a premier sporting event,” Manca wrote.
But it was the same online chatrooms that ultimately led police to Garcia. In July 2022, the FBI national tip line at ic3.gov received an anonymous tip reporting that Garcia was using his Discord.com channel to broadcast the swatting calls. Other anonymous tips came into the FBI saying Garcia was part of a Discord group dedicated to swatting, and he described himself as a ‘professional swatter,’ according to an FBI search warrant obtained by KOMO News.
"He tried to form a group that would focus on doxxing, swatting, and extortion. In his own words, the group’s mission was 'to terrorize people.' He repeatedly commented that 'extortion is fun' and discussed making other people’s lives 'miserable.' He bragged that he had become a 'cyberterrorist,'" Manca's memorandum stated.
As the FBI was investigating the reports of Garcia’s swatting, court records allege he called the police department in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to report a father was holding his family hostage and had a grenade.
The police believed the situation was real and initiated a large response and found a 12-year-old girl and two adults inside the home unharmed.
“The caller laughed and taunted officers, stating that he was hiding under multiple VPNs (virtual private networks),” the sentencing memo states. Commander Daniel Grispino of the Shaker Heights police spoke to Garcia during the incident.
“He was taunting and mocking us that day,” Grispino told KOMO News.
Grispino flew to Washington to attend Garcia’s sentencing hearing.
“Like pouring salt in the wound, you left a voicemail for our chief of police directing him to an online post where you gloated about the event. You wasted countless hours when our patrol officers could have responded to emergencies. I traveled 2400 miles to tell you this in person. I told you that you would be held accountable,” Grispino said during the hearing.
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Photo of Garcia's apartment in Bremerton from federal search warrant (U.S. Department of Justice)
Garcia apologized during his sentencing hearing, where he and his attorneys asked for leniency.
“To know that I caused so much pain and irreversible damage to someone for no reason other than petty reasons. It’s disheartening to me, to my family,” Garcia said in court. Garcia said he had an online persona that disconnected him from reality.
Before imposing a sentence, Judge Benjamin Settle called Garcia’s Swatting calls ‘cruel.’
“Swatting is cruel. It is uncivilized. It is the willful terrorizing of other human beings,” Judge Settle said. "There is a great need to send a clear message throughout the country that engaging in swatting will get more than a slap on the hand punishment.”
Manca, the assistant United States Attorney, said this case should be a warning to parents about the dangers their kids may find online. Garcia met one of his victims on an online video game platform before moving the relationship to a separate online messaging platform, according to the charges.
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“It cannot seem real at the moment when it’s happening, but this is not a video game. This is real people’s lives who were affected,” Manca told KOMO News. “We’re committed to holding people accountable, and even though he believed he wasn’t going to be caught. We were able to investigate, and law enforcement did a great job of finding him.”
