Riverside man charged in wide-ranging swatting plot that threatened faculties, airport

A Riverside man is going through felony expenses for allegedly inserting swatting calls, federal officers say, during which he threatened to commit mass shootings at faculties throughout the nation, together with within the Inland Empire and in Connecticut, and threatened to bomb Nashville International Airport on behalf of ISIS.

Eduardo Vicente Pelayo Rodriguez, 31, was arrested on Tuesday, May 21, and charged with one rely of stalking, seven counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce, seven counts partaking in hoaxes, and three counts of transmitting threats or false data concerning fireplace and explosives, in accordance with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The types of swatting crimes alleged towards this defendant are extremely troubling,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada mentioned in a press release. “The indictment alleges that the defendant positioned calls to varsities, airports, and different areas that have been designed to trigger most concern and set off an emergency response.

“Swatting is a critical crime that may trigger nice trauma and threat lack of life, so it is vital that we maintain wrongdoers accountable,” the U.S. legal professional mentioned.

Swatting includes an individual making up a false report back to get police to descend on an tackle.

In January and February of final 12 months, the authorities say, Rodriguez used a voice-over-internet-protocol service to position greater than a dozen calls impersonating a sufferer. He known as a suicide-prevention hotline and a veterans’ disaster hotline telling the operator he was considering committing suicide or killing others, in accordance with the criticism.

Using another person’s title, federal officers mentioned, he additionally known as faculty staffers at seven faculties – in Riverside and in San Bernardino counties, in addition to in Sandy Hook, Connecticut – and threatened to commit both a mass taking pictures or a bombing on the faculties. Rodriguez, in a single occasion, informed an operator at an elementary faculty that he was the subsequent mass faculty shooter of 2023, the criticism mentioned.

On Feb. 8, 2023, Rodriguez is suspected of calling the Nashville International Airport in Tennessee and saying he had planted a bomb on a aircraft and within the airport, telling that operator “that is for ISIS,” and “one hour, increase,” in accordance with the criticism.

Each threatening telephone name was pretend.

If discovered responsible, Rodriguez might face a most sentence of 5 years in federal jail on the stalking rely, 5 years on every of the threats counts, 5 years on every of the hoax counts, and 10 years on every of the counts relating to fireplace and explosives, federal officers mentioned.