A 20-year-old Bremerton man was sentenced Tuesday to 3 years in prison for “swatting,” or falsely reporting crimes to law enforcement and wasting resources that could've been used in real emergencies. Victims, some threatened by him, are in different states across the U.S. and in Canada.
Ashton Connor Garcia was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma for four federal felonies, said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman in a statement from the Department of Justice. In January, Garcia pleaded to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle called the crimes "cruel," "uncivilized" and "the willful terrorizing of other human beings,” and that he saw a great need to “send a message that engaging in swatting will get more than a slap on the hand," according to DOJ.
Hoaxes, threats and extortion in 2022-2023
From early June 2022 to March 2023, Garcia used voice over internet technology and social media platforms to make false emergency calls to dispatch services while urging others to watch his illegal activity via social media, according to the plea agreement and records in the case, cited by a DOJ statement.
Garcia admitted he intended his calls to cause a large-scale deployment of special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, bomb squads, and other police units to the targeted locations, according to Garcia's plea agreement mentioned in the DOJ statement.
"He made these calls with malicious intent to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against certain individuals and organizations, and to obtain items of value through extortion," the statement said.
That includes an incident in August 2022, when Garcia called the Bremerton Police Department and falsely claimed that he'd shot his mother. In September 2022, he falsely reported to Bremerton Police that his father shot his mother and was running around the house with a shotgun, the Kitsap Sun previously reported. Other false reports include him claiming that he shot his parents, his father stabbed his mother, and his father had raped female members of the family, according to DoJ.
More: Feds: Bremerton man with 'extensive' swatting history pleads guilty to four felonies
Recipients of the hoax calls reside way beyond Bremerton. The plea agreement mentioned 20 false emergency reports targeting victims in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Washington, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, according to the statement.
Garcia gathered personal information about his victims and threatened some of them with harm, including placing swatting calls to send an armed police presence to their home, the statement said. He demanded money, virtual currency, credit card information, or sexually explicit photos from some of his victims, according to the statement.
He also made fake reports to non-emergency police numbers, falsely saying that he and others had planted explosive devices in particular locations. He falsely accused other people of committing crimes, like murder, rape, and kidnapping, and said that these individuals possessed dangerous weapons like knives, firearms, and explosive devices, according to DOJ.
"The false reports tied up law enforcement resources that could have been used for actual emergencies. In some instances, law enforcement entered the victim's residence with weapons drawn and detained people at the residence," according to the statement.
“InEdmonton, Alberta, an 8-year-old boy and his mother were woken up in the night by a team of law enforcement officers with rifles. 20 officers and 7 civilian staff members were directly involved in that law enforcement response. In New Jersey, a man was removed from his house and detained at gunpoint, and an elementary school was locked down on the first day of school. Over 19 officers responded to the area, along with several officers from a neighboring police agency. In Colorado, a family was traumatized when officers suddenly broke down their front door to rescue a woman whom they believed was bleeding to death on the floor. At least 9 police units were dispatched to that incident,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Manca wrote in her sentencing memo, cited by DOJ.
A commander from the Shaker Heights Ohio Police Department, Dan Grispino, traveled to Tacoma for the sentencing. Grispino said he couldn't forget a 12-year-old girl's terrified look when she was alone at home and Garcia’s false call sent armed police there, according to the statement.
“Swatting is not a prank, real lives were at stake…. Mr. Garcia showed no regard for the lifelong trauma he imposed on a 12-year-old girl,” Grispino said.
Garcia treated the swatting calls like entertainment, broadcasted his calls via Discord, and told other Discord users that he considered himself a “cyber terrorist,” according to DOJ.
On Tuesday's court, Garcia said “I knew what I was doing was wrong…. I just didn’t realize the trauma I was causing,” according to DOJ.
Garcia has been detained at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac since he violated the terms of his pretrial release last year. His case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from local law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Ashton Connor Garcia pleaded guilty and sentenced in swatting case
