Feds charge 2 Europeans with 'swatting' plot targeting members of Congress, other elected officials

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Federal prosecutors have charged two European men with "swatting" dozens of members of Congress and other U.S. elected officials, including a former president and president-elect, according to court records unsealed on Wednesday.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, allegedly targeted roughly 100 people with "swatting" calls to instigate an aggressive response by police officers at the victims' homes, a federal indictment alleges.

Neither the former president nor any of the other lawmakers are named in a U.S. Secret Service agent's affidavit. 

While the two defendants are not explicitly charged in the indictment with threatening a former president, one of the alleged victims is identified as a "former elected official from the executive branch" who was swatted on Jan. 9, 2024. 

U.S. prosecutors have charged two European men with "swatting." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

"While some of these calls targeted private citizens chosen seemingly at random, most of the calls targeted public officials, family members of public officials, and other prominent individuals," the agent wrote.

Online court records in Washington didn't say if Szabo or Radovanovic have been arrested or if they are represented by attorneys. A court filing accompanying their indictment said investigators believed they were in separate foreign countries last week.

Secret Service agents questioned Szabo in Romania in January. He told them that he has been involved in both swatting and bomb threats since late 2020, the affidavit says.

Agents questioned Radovanovic in Serbia in February. He recited the elements of a "script" that he used during his swatting calls, according to the affidavit. It says Radovanovic claimed to be acting at the direction of a juvenile who provided him with victims' addresses.

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Szabo and Radovanovic are both charged with conspiracy and more than two dozen counts of making threats. The plot spanned more than three years, from December 2020 through January 2024, according to prosecutors. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up the indictment last Thursday.

Two foreign nationals have been charged with "swatting" dozens of members of Congress and other elected officials. (AP)

The indictment said Szabo organized and moderated chat groups to coordinate swatting attacks against 40 private citizens and 61 officials, including cabinet-level members of the federal government's executive branch, the head of a federal law enforcement agency, a federal judge, current and former governors and other state officials.

In January 2021, three days before President Biden's inauguration, Szabo called a crisis intervention hotline and threatened to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol, and kill the president-elect, according to the indictment.

"Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma," Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.

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The FBI reported a surge in swatting calls in late 2023 and early 2024, with some of the targets linked to court cases against former President Trump. A fake emergency call reported a shooting at the home of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's election subversion case in Washington. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith also was the subject of a fake emergency call on Christmas Day of 2023.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.