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Romanian National Going by Three Aliases Pleads Guilty to Swatting a Former U.S. President and Over 75 Others – Same Person Who Swatted Catturd Three Times

Attorney General Pam Bondi

An Eastern European national using three aliases has admitted his guilt in a swatting ring that doxxed several public officials, including a former U.S. president, the DOJ announced on Monday.

As The New York Post reported, 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo was a key figure in a years-long conspiracy. Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, targeted about 100 people in total, including Congressional members, governors, executive branch officials, and state officials.

According to the Justice Department, Szabo placed fake 911 calls, boasted that emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and threatened to blow up government buildings and houses of worship. Szabo used the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah,” and “Cypher” to cover his tracks.

Notably, he and Radovanovic did not specifically target individuals based on their political party affiliation. For those wondering about the president targeted by Szabo, he was not named in the indictment.

More from the New York Post:

One of their alleged victims is identified as a “former elected official from the executive branch” who was swatted on Jan. 9. 2024, when Radovanovic falsely reported a murder at the home of the former president or vice president – who is not named in the indictment – and threatened to blow up the person’s residence.

Several of the victims were selected by Szabo, who directed Radovanovic to place the emergency calls targeting both Republicans and Democrats, according to the indictment.

The menacing calls started around December 2020, when Szabo called a crisis intervention hotline and threatened to “commit a mass shooting at multiple unspecified synagogues in New York City,” the indictment states.

Around Jan. 17, 2021, Szabo allegedly called another crisis intervention hotline and threatened to detonate explosives at the US Capitol Building and kill then-President-elect Joe Biden.

Szabo, who was shipped back to Romania last November, has entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats. He is scheduled to be sentenced in an October Washington, DC, federal court.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel released statements in response to the guilty plea.

“This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas,” Bondi said. “This case reflects our continued focus on protecting the American people and working with international partners to stop these threats at their source.”

“Today, Szabo pleaded guilty to a years-long conspiracy that targeted victims with swatting and bomb threats, including to government buildings, houses of worship, and homes of government officials,” Patel said. “Swatting endangers lives and will not be tolerated by the FBI.”

Catturd revealed in an X post on Tuesday that he was also a victim of this man and said he had been in contact with the DOJ.

“This is the guy who swatted me the first three times,” he wrote. “I have been receiving regular letters from the DOJ about the case.”

“They also said, as a victim, I could go to the sentencing hearing if I wanted and even read an impact statement,” he added.

The post Romanian National Going by Three Aliases Pleads Guilty to Swatting a Former U.S. President and Over 75 Others – Same Person Who Swatted Catturd Three Times appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.