Garfield teenager accused of making ‘swatting’ calls

A 15-year-old male from Garfield was arrested Tuesday for accessory to false reports of explosives in public or private places, following a months-long investigation into a series of hoax emergency calls targeting police departments nationwide, according to a news release from the Lewiston Police Department.

The teenager wasn’t named in the news release, which provided details of his alleged “swatting” calls.

The arrest, executed by the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office pursuant to a felony warrant from Nez Perce County, stemmed from an investigation by Lewiston Police Department Detective Zach Thomas, according to the news release.

The investigation began June 19, after a threatening call was made to the Lewiston Police Department. The caller falsely claimed to have taken a 5-year-old hostage at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, stating he would slit the child’s throat and shoot anyone who intervened, according to the news release.

The hoax prompted a lockdown at St. Joe’s and approximately nine police officers responded to the scene. An extensive search revealed the threat was fabricated. Over the next two days, the Lewiston Police Department received five additional calls from the same number, including one June 20 claiming that pressure cooker bombs had been placed outside the police department and that an accomplice would harm the dispatcher, according to the news release.

Thomas identified the suspect through search warrants served on various electronic service providers, including Google. Thomas found the suspect in an online chat with another user. The suspect allegedly encouraged the other user to make the calls, provided phone numbers and addresses for targeted locations, and coached the caller on using a virtual private network to conceal their identity.

The teen’s alleged actions extended beyond Lewiston. The investigation linked him to “swatting” calls targeting police departments in at least 13 states, including Texas, Idaho, New York and Hawaii, according to the news release.

The teen also talked in online chats about committing such acts for years and even advertised his services for money, according to the news release. Investigators found digital tools, such as soundboards mimicking gunfire and screams, that were reportedly used to make the calls more convincing.

“These dispatchers listen to very real calls from people experiencing the worst days of their lives,” Thomas wrote in his charging document. “Dispatchers in the moment have no way of knowing what is ‘just a prank’ and what is real.”