2 men from Europe charged with ‘swatting’ plot targeting former US president and members of Congress

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. president and several members of Congress were the targets of a plot by two European men to intimidate and threaten dozens of people by reporting false reports of police incidents at their homes, according to court documents made public on Wednesday.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, from Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, from Serbia, targeted about 100 people with “to hit” calls for an aggressive police response to the victims’ homes, federal indictment claims.

A statement from a U.S. Secret Service agent did not name the former U.S. president and other officials identified as victims of the hoax phone calls.

The indictment does not explicitly accuse the two suspects of threatening a former president, but one of the alleged victims is identified as a “former elected official of the executive branch” who was beaten on Jan. 9, 2024. Radovanovic falsely reported a murder and threatened to set off an explosion at the person’s home, the indictment said.

Szabo told Radovanovic they should choose targets from both the Republican and Democratic parties because “we are not on either side,” the indictment said.

“While some of these calls were directed at seemingly randomly selected citizens, the majority of calls were directed at government officials, family members of government officials, and other prominent individuals,” the agent wrote.

The calls also included threats to carry out mass shootings at New York City synagogues and to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol and a university, the indictment said. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., returned the charges last Thursday.

Online court records in Washington did not say whether Szabo or Radovanovic were arrested or represented by attorneys. A court document accompanying their indictment said investigators last week believed they were in several foreign countries. A spokesman for Graves’ office declined to provide details.

Secret Service agents interviewed Szabo in Romania in January, and he told them he had been involved in both swatting and bomb threats since late 2020, the affidavit said.

Agents questioned Radovanovic in Serbia in February. He recited elements of a “script” he used during his swatting calls, according to the affidavit, which states that Radovanovic claimed to be acting on the orders of a minor who gave him the addresses of victims.

Szabo and Radovanovic are both accused of conspiracy and more than two dozen counts of making threats. The plot spanned more than three years, from December 2020 to January 2024, prosecutors said.

“Swatting is not a victimless joke — it endangers real people, wastes valuable police resources, and causes significant emotional trauma,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.

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

In January 2021, three days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Szabo called a crisis intervention hotline and threatened to detonate explosives in the Capitol and kill the president-elect, the indictment said.

In December 2023 and January 2024, Radovanovic allegedly called government agencies to falsely report murders and threatened suicides or kidnappings at the homes of U.S. senators, members of the House of Representatives and elected state officials, the indictment alleges. One of the calls led to a car crash that left people injured, the indictment alleges.

The FBI reported an increase in swatting calls in late 2023 and early 2024, with some of the targets related to lawsuits against former President Donald Trump. A fake 911 call reported a shooting at the home of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkanwho is overseeing Trump’s election undermining case in Washington. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith was also the subject of a fake emergency call on Christmas Day 2023.

Georgia State Senator John Albers, a Republican whose home was robbed in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, said he expects the U.S. will request the extradition of both men to face trial.

“This will send a very strong signal to other people, whether they are at home or abroad, that we will find you and we will track you down,” Albers told The Associated Press.

Georgia state Sen. Clint Dixon, a Republican whose Buford home was targeted with swatting calls on Christmas and Dec. 26 last year, said he felt “a sense of relief” and his wife was “elated” after the Secret Service told him the suspects had been identified. Dixon said a police tactical team, fire trucks and an ambulance responded on both occasions.

“What happened to me and my family was very scary for my wife and my children,” Dixon said. “It could have been a very dangerous situation.”

___ Jeff Amy, an Associated Press editor in Atlanta, contributed to this report.