Pennsylvania teen charged in East Lyme swatting incident
Jan. 18—EAST LYME — Months of investigation into a swatting incident — a falsely reported emergency call — has led to the arrest of a 15-year-old Pennsylvania teen.
East Lyme police on Tuesday arrested the male teen, who remains unidentified because he is a juvenile, in connection with an Aug. 23, 2022 emergency call to police from a male reporting his father may be deceased from a shooting and that the shooter was his brother.
The caller allegedly described in detail how the brother was searching the residence for the caller and his mother, who were hiding.
East Lyme Police Chief Michael Finkelstein, in a statement on Wednesday, said the call initiated a large-scale response from the East Lyme Police Department and the Flanders Fire Department, "who believed they were responding to an active shooter incident."
Swatting is a false report of a crime meant to elicit a large scale response to a particular address. There was a string of swatting incidents at schools across the state, including Norwich and Groton, in October that led to lock downs because of false reports of an active shooter.
Finkelstein said there are numerous concerns and safety issues associated with the response to a call like this. It not only pulls resources from other emergencies but creates risks for both responding units and residents in the area.
"In this case, being late summer, late afternoon in a condominium complex, it effected a large number of residents. Officers respond in a tactical manner and that is always a tense situation," Finkelstein said.
Finkelstein said responding officers established a perimeter where they thought the call originated and ensured that residents of the condominium complex were moved to safe locations. Dispatchers and officers in the town's dispatch center remained on the phone with the caller for more than 11 minutes as the caller described movements of a what is now known to be a nonexistent gunman. Officers eventually made entry into a condominium that turned out to be an empty unit.
Finkelstein said the in-depth investigation that followed involved the application and issuance of multiple search and seizure warrants for technology companies. It was determined that the phone call originated from a phone app which can be used to generate a false phone number.
The suspect was identified with the assistance of Pennsylvania authorities. The teen suspect, investigators learned, was involved in an online gaming chat with others who also engaged in calls to businesses around the country.
The Pennsylvania teen faces charges of first-degree falsely reporting an incident, misuse of the emergency 911 system, disorderly conduct, conspiracy to commit falsely reporting an incident and conspiracy to commit misuse of a 911 system.
The teen will appear in Superior Court for Juvenile Matters in Waterford at a later date. Court proceedings for juveniles are not public.
