21-year-old Western Washington man sentenced to 3 years for phone swatting

Swatting is the ugly and dangerous practice of making a false call to law enforcement or emergency services and sending it to an unsuspecting person’s home. Authorities say there have been several fatal shootings there.

Bremerton WA Man gets 3 years

Ashton Connor Garcia, 21, will spend three years in prison after pleading guilty in January to two counts of threatening to extort and two of threatening or defrauding with explosives.

He has been linked to at least 20 incidents of swatting or other threats in multiple states dating back to 2022. He extorted money, personal information and other items from victims by threatening to call law enforcement and even demanding sexually explicit photos.

He used Voice Over Internet, or VOIP, technology to disguise his voice, as well as social media to “boost” his calls. According to KIRO News in Seattle:

“The plea agreement details 20 different false accident victim reports involving victims in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. and Edmonton, Alberta, according to prosecutors.”

His crimes included making false bomb threats against the FOX television station in Cleveland and a plane flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles.