7 ms·

CA Teenager Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Nationwide Swatting Spree

74 points by impish9208 2y ago

elif 2y ago
[flagged]
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - dang 2y ago
    Personal attacks will get you banned here, so please don't do this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - elif 2y ago
      Sorry dang. Who was personally attacked? Also i'd love to dig into how I should rephrase my commentary. I meant to draw attention to the selection of members of a known swatting community in doge recruitment. Based upon the tactics reported by government employees, doge has conducted exfiltration and installed spyware, making them a cybercriminal outfit that exists in a quasi-legal grey area that exists before court procedures can physically occur. I would therefore posit that there are two qualities (cybercriminal, and under legal duress and thus maleable) and therefore it is logically consistent to use ambiguity in my cursory and real assessment of the situation.
      - elif 2y ago
        If you believe it is a general tangent I would argue that it is highly topical and important not just to the general but centrally to hackers.
      - dang 2y ago
        I was scolding ahmeneeroe-v2 for posting "You are an idiot" in response to your post at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43017356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43017356. If you don't see that comment, it's because you don't have 'showdead' turned on in your profile. It's pretty worrisome if the chain of replies (i.e. who's replying to who) is that unclear, though! Do you not see a [dead] node in the tree just above my post?
    - ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
      Fair warning. Thanks Dang
- dang 2y ago
  "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
>he falsely identified himself as a senior federal law enforcement officer, provided the federal law-enforcement officer’s residential address to the dispatcher I would guess this one really put him on the map Given the scope (375 total!) and the for-hire nature, it seems like this kid got off easy. I'm not totally against it given his age, but wow.
- favorited 2y ago
  4 years in federal prison is a long time, especially for an 18 year old. Even if he earns the full 54 days of good-time per year, that's still about 3.5 years in prison. Best case scenario, when he gets out, he'll be a 21 year old felon without much or any higher education or vocational training. You could certainly argue that he deserves a longer sentence, given the volume of swatting crimes he committed, but the rest of his life just got a whole lot harder.
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
    Yeah, I think you're right. His age is (and should be) a major mitigating factor.
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > His age is (and should be) a major mitigating factor Counterpoint: young offenders (those released under 21 to 30) have high rates of recidivism [1]. The logic for putting someone like this in a low-security and enriching environment until they’ve aged out of high-risk behaviour is there. [1] https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/effects-aging-recidivism-among-federal-offenders https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/effects-aging...
  - lurking_swe 2y ago
    sounds like justice was served then.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
  This is a ridiculously light sentence for 375 calls and threats of mass murder. I don’t care about his age - he’s old enough to know better. He should have received 4 years per incident.
Nasrudith 2y ago
As always: not to acquit the heinous perpetrator but I can't help but think the bigger fundamental issue is that we maintain a tax-payer funded dial-a-juiced-up-hitman service in the first place.
- jokoon 2y ago
  My thought also Maybe there is a risk/benefit. Maybe spending more time trying to make sure, would cost lives, or give criminals time to flee? Hard to know...
- susiecambria 2y ago
  Can't disagree more. I am disgusted by abuse of power. One law enforcement officer who use excessive force or breaks the rules is too many. They should all be found and prosecuted. Systems which perpetuate abuse of power should be torn down and rebuilt. Systems which are designed to find fault with one group should be replaced by ones which are more deliberate and fair. The big fundamental issue is that at least in the US, there is a significant need for law enforcement. There's trafficking, child abuse and neglect, drug proliferation, crimes against persons and property. And too many agencies are not provided with the support they need to best serve the community. For example, making social workers available to resolve what are fundamentally non-law enforcement issues would restrict the reliance on armed officers. And I say this as someone with an MSW who has spent 25 years working on local public policy issues, often ones including the police. I'd love for the police not to be needed. Hell, I want firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics to get paid to hang out in the station because there are no calls for them to respond to. But if there are bad guys out there, I want trained and competent officers to respond, to protect me and mine. And you and yours. Having better systems built and maintained is hard work and long-term diligence is necessary. In Washington, DC, for example, the police and fire clinic is underfunded and the quality of the work performed by credentialed professionals is generally sloppy. There are several instances where officers were put back on the street following what I understand to be poorly executed clinical assessments. Elected and appointed officials were aware of the situation and shrugged their shoulders. The problem was dull, boring, and technical, not shiny, new, and sexy.
  - 2y ago
potato3732842 2y ago
Moral of the story here really is that if you make the government enforcers look like fools by abusing their "service" for your own ends they will throw the book at you.
- decremental 2y ago
  48 months for 375 attempted murders isn't exactly getting the book thrown at you. It should have been life.
  - potato3732842 2y ago
    Calling it attempted murder says a lot about the cops and how they do things does it not? Do the cops have no culpability? Were they not so predisposed to shoot first and ask questions later there would barely be a crime here. It would be on the same order as pushing a bunch of fraudulent paperwork.
    - tptacek 2y ago
      They do not, as you can see from the fact that 375 people were not in fact killed.
      - potato3732842 2y ago
        What's an acceptable conversion ratio between false calls and bodies? As far as I care it should be close enough to zero that if falls below the noise threshold of accidents en route and other occupational hazards. It's beyond baffling that people will defend the existence of a magic phone number that can be called and if you say the magic words to it there's a really, really good chance a bunch of armed guys kick in the door of whoever you want. The system should not work that way. The fact that the thugs showed up and decided it was BS and shot nobody most of the time is not a redeeming factor. The "close calls" should not be that close.
        gibusen 2y ago
herewulf 2y ago
Coincidentally I ran across and read this fantastic WIRED article with a lot more detail today. https://archive.is/OgYmI https://archive.is/OgYmI Curious that the posted article credits a bunch of law enforcement departments but not the PI from the article.
sebastiangorka 2y ago
[dead]
polski-g 2y ago
Four years for attempted murder seems awfully short.

74 points by impish9208 2y ago

elif 2y ago

[flagged]

ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
[flagged]
- dang 2y ago
  Personal attacks will get you banned here, so please don't do this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - elif 2y ago
    Sorry dang. Who was personally attacked? Also i'd love to dig into how I should rephrase my commentary. I meant to draw attention to the selection of members of a known swatting community in doge recruitment. Based upon the tactics reported by government employees, doge has conducted exfiltration and installed spyware, making them a cybercriminal outfit that exists in a quasi-legal grey area that exists before court procedures can physically occur. I would therefore posit that there are two qualities (cybercriminal, and under legal duress and thus maleable) and therefore it is logically consistent to use ambiguity in my cursory and real assessment of the situation.
    - elif 2y ago
      If you believe it is a general tangent I would argue that it is highly topical and important not just to the general but centrally to hackers.
    - dang 2y ago
      I was scolding ahmeneeroe-v2 for posting "You are an idiot" in response to your post at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43017356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43017356. If you don't see that comment, it's because you don't have 'showdead' turned on in your profile. It's pretty worrisome if the chain of replies (i.e. who's replying to who) is that unclear, though! Do you not see a [dead] node in the tree just above my post?
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
    Fair warning. Thanks Dang
dang 2y ago
"Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago

>he falsely identified himself as a senior federal law enforcement officer, provided the federal law-enforcement officer’s residential address to the dispatcher I would guess this one really put him on the map Given the scope (375 total!) and the for-hire nature, it seems like this kid got off easy. I'm not totally against it given his age, but wow.

favorited 2y ago
4 years in federal prison is a long time, especially for an 18 year old. Even if he earns the full 54 days of good-time per year, that's still about 3.5 years in prison. Best case scenario, when he gets out, he'll be a 21 year old felon without much or any higher education or vocational training. You could certainly argue that he deserves a longer sentence, given the volume of swatting crimes he committed, but the rest of his life just got a whole lot harder.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
  Yeah, I think you're right. His age is (and should be) a major mitigating factor.
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > His age is (and should be) a major mitigating factor Counterpoint: young offenders (those released under 21 to 30) have high rates of recidivism [1]. The logic for putting someone like this in a low-security and enriching environment until they’ve aged out of high-risk behaviour is there. [1] https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/effects-aging-recidivism-among-federal-offenders https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/effects-aging...
- lurking_swe 2y ago
  sounds like justice was served then.
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
This is a ridiculously light sentence for 375 calls and threats of mass murder. I don’t care about his age - he’s old enough to know better. He should have received 4 years per incident.

Nasrudith 2y ago

As always: not to acquit the heinous perpetrator but I can't help but think the bigger fundamental issue is that we maintain a tax-payer funded dial-a-juiced-up-hitman service in the first place.

jokoon 2y ago
My thought also Maybe there is a risk/benefit. Maybe spending more time trying to make sure, would cost lives, or give criminals time to flee? Hard to know...
susiecambria 2y ago
Can't disagree more. I am disgusted by abuse of power. One law enforcement officer who use excessive force or breaks the rules is too many. They should all be found and prosecuted. Systems which perpetuate abuse of power should be torn down and rebuilt. Systems which are designed to find fault with one group should be replaced by ones which are more deliberate and fair. The big fundamental issue is that at least in the US, there is a significant need for law enforcement. There's trafficking, child abuse and neglect, drug proliferation, crimes against persons and property. And too many agencies are not provided with the support they need to best serve the community. For example, making social workers available to resolve what are fundamentally non-law enforcement issues would restrict the reliance on armed officers. And I say this as someone with an MSW who has spent 25 years working on local public policy issues, often ones including the police. I'd love for the police not to be needed. Hell, I want firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics to get paid to hang out in the station because there are no calls for them to respond to. But if there are bad guys out there, I want trained and competent officers to respond, to protect me and mine. And you and yours. Having better systems built and maintained is hard work and long-term diligence is necessary. In Washington, DC, for example, the police and fire clinic is underfunded and the quality of the work performed by credentialed professionals is generally sloppy. There are several instances where officers were put back on the street following what I understand to be poorly executed clinical assessments. Elected and appointed officials were aware of the situation and shrugged their shoulders. The problem was dull, boring, and technical, not shiny, new, and sexy.
- 2y ago

potato3732842 2y ago

Moral of the story here really is that if you make the government enforcers look like fools by abusing their "service" for your own ends they will throw the book at you.

decremental 2y ago
48 months for 375 attempted murders isn't exactly getting the book thrown at you. It should have been life.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  Calling it attempted murder says a lot about the cops and how they do things does it not? Do the cops have no culpability? Were they not so predisposed to shoot first and ask questions later there would barely be a crime here. It would be on the same order as pushing a bunch of fraudulent paperwork.
  - tptacek 2y ago
    They do not, as you can see from the fact that 375 people were not in fact killed.
    - potato3732842 2y ago
      What's an acceptable conversion ratio between false calls and bodies? As far as I care it should be close enough to zero that if falls below the noise threshold of accidents en route and other occupational hazards. It's beyond baffling that people will defend the existence of a magic phone number that can be called and if you say the magic words to it there's a really, really good chance a bunch of armed guys kick in the door of whoever you want. The system should not work that way. The fact that the thugs showed up and decided it was BS and shot nobody most of the time is not a redeeming factor. The "close calls" should not be that close.
      - gibusen 2y ago

herewulf 2y ago

Coincidentally I ran across and read this fantastic WIRED article with a lot more detail today. https://archive.is/OgYmI https://archive.is/OgYmI Curious that the posted article credits a bunch of law enforcement departments but not the PI from the article.

sebastiangorka 2y ago

[dead]

polski-g 2y ago

Four years for attempted murder seems awfully short.