Alan W. Filion, 18, of Lancaster, California, pleaded guilty today to four counts of making interstate threats to injure individuals, in connection with over 375 swatting incidents spanning from August 2022 to January 2024. Filion, who faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison per count, used hoax threats to target schools, religious institutions, and government officials across the United States, causing widespread fear and chaos.
Filion’s swatting activities included placing false calls in which he claimed to have planted bombs, made threats of mass shootings, and falsely reported possessing firearms and explosives. These calls often led to the deployment of police and emergency services, tying up critical resources and diverting attention from actual emergencies. In some instances, armed officers entered residences with weapons drawn, detaining individuals as a result of the false reports.
The FBI, which investigated the case in partnership with other agencies including the U.S. Secret Service, was able to trace the swatting calls to Filion, who had been making them since he was 16 years old. Filion admitted in a plea agreement to carrying out the majority of the calls during his teenage years, including some for profit, as he offered swatting-for-a-fee services on social media platforms. He even boasted about the effectiveness of his calls in online posts, claiming that swatting victims were typically dragged out of their homes by police.
Filion targeted a wide range of locations and individuals, from high schools and colleges to houses of worship, and made multiple threatening calls, including one in October 2022 to a public high school in Washington, where he threatened a mass shooting and claimed to have planted bombs. Another threat, made in May 2023 to a Historically Black College & University in Florida, claimed that bombs had been placed in campus housing, set to detonate in an hour. In a separate July 2023 call to a Texas police department, Filion falsely claimed to be a senior federal law enforcement officer, providing a fake story of having killed a family member and threatening police officers.
Filion’s activities not only caused distress to those targeted but also put first responders at significant risk, as they were often dispatched to dangerous and time-sensitive situations based on the false information provided by Filion. In one of his online posts, he bragged about how police officers were tricked into dragging victims out of their homes during swatting incidents, further highlighting the dangerous nature of his actions.
Filion was arrested in January 2023 in California on state charges stemming from a May 2023 threat to a religious institution in Florida, where he claimed to possess illegal firearms and explosives. Filion was charged under the Federal Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act and has remained in custody since his arrest.
This case serves as a reminder of the severe consequences of swatting, a criminal activity that endangers public safety, wastes law enforcement resources, and causes immense emotional distress to victims. The investigation was a joint effort by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and multiple state and local law enforcement agencies, with assistance from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office (Florida), Anacortes Police Department (Washington), and other partners.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cherie L. Krigsman and Kara Wick from the Middle District of Florida, alongside FBI officials, continue to lead the prosecution, with support from several U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country. A sentencing date for Filion has not yet been set.
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