Yesterday, I was notified by the Justice Department confirming that a recent swatting indictment includes the person or persons responsible for my own swatting a year ago. One of the defendants, Thomasz Szabo, was arrested a couple weeks ago.
The indictment below charges two foreign nationals: Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia.
Szabo and Radovanovic are each charged with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce.
Their alleged conspiracy began as early as December 2020. It continued through January 2024, using personal identifying information, including home addresses, to falsely report emergencies to provoke a police response at the victim’s home. According to the Justice Department, they used various monikers to communicate. Szabo used “Jonah,” “Jonah Goldberg,” “Plank,” “Rambler,” “War Lord,” “Shovel,” “Cypher,” “Kollectivist,” “Mortenberg Shekelstorms,” and “NotThuggin2”. Radovanovic used “XBD31,” “XDR,” “Angus,” “Thuggin,” “Thug Hunter,” “NotThuggin,” “DCL,” and “AOD.”
The indictment alleges that their crimes encompassed 40 private victims and 61 official victims, including members of Congress, cabinet-level executive branch officials, and senior federal law enforcement officials. It also included four businesses, four religious institutions, and one victim university.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Conor Mulroe is prosecuting the case. Under the Crime Victims Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. 3771 (1), the indictment triggers ten rights for me and the other alleged victims, including the right to be heard at a hearing involving any plea, sentencing, or parole proceeding. I was given my own Victim Identification Number (VIN) and Personal Identification Number (PIN) under the CVRA for future communications.
I am grateful to the Justice Department and these cooperating U.S. and foreign offices for their work in finding the alleged culprits who swatted my home between Christmas and New Year’s in 2023.
Whatever the role politics may have played, or our current divisions, swatting constitutes a very serious crime that can result in lethal accidents and trauma for victims. It also pulls law enforcement resources away from real crimes. In my case, five or six officers were needlessly pulled from their other duties to respond to the call.
For some, these stories become irresistible opportunities to vent against the victims or even bizarre attacks on conservative legal theory. The liberal gotcha site, Above the Law, covered my swatting with the usual ad hominem attacks while adding a truly unhinged spin to the story. Senior Editor Joe Patrice (who has defended “predominantly liberal faculties” and not hiring conservative or libertarian law professors) insisted that swatting is somehow the fault of gun owners, Second Amendment advocates, and “edgy” police:
“Swatting is a byproduct of a nation awash in more and more powerful weapons and more and more edgy cops. And that makes these false police reports regrettably a manifestation of our age of failing to confront the disconnect between the text and history of the Second Amendment and the lazy ahistorical interpretation of this Supreme Court.”
Prosecutors notably did not include the conservative justices as co-conspirators with Szabo and Radovanovic.
This indictment is a valuable addition to deterring a crime that has become all too common. The fact that this investigation stretched to Hungary and Romania showed the extraordinary effort needed to make these arrests. The arrests are the result of an investigation that involved a global effort, including the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office and Criminal Investigative Division, the FBI’s Washington Field Office and Minneapolis Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police, the U.S. Secret Service’s Bucharest Resident Office, Miami Field Office, Syracuse Resident Office, Springfield Resident Office, the FBI’s Legat Office in Bucharest and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Washington, the District of South Dakota, the Middle District of Florida, the Southern District of Florida, the Southern District of Illinois, and the Northern District of New York.
As more such cases are prosecuted, it will hopefully shatter the sense of anonymity and impunity of such culprits. Once again, I am very thankful for the effort of all of these agencies in bringing this case.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Jonathan: So the DOJ has indicted your “swatters”? Just proves one thing. The DOJ under AG Garland is fair and impartial when it comes to enforcing the law. It goes after lawbreakers no matter their political persuasion. The Q is whether the DOJ under the new DJT administration will so the same?
After Matt Gaetz’s nomination for AG went down in flames DJT immediately offered his back up pic, Pam Bondi. The Q is whether she, if confirmed, will show the same even handiness in enforcing the laws? I am doubtful. NBC News has an article today about Bondi. She spent the last decade defending DJT and attacking those in the DOJ who have tried to hold him accountable. NBC points out that Bondi has “called prosecutors who charged Trump with crimes members of the ‘deep state’–spreading a false conspiracy theory that DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents were part of a secret cabal trying to undermine Trump”.
We do know DJT wants to fire Jack Smith and his team of DOJ prosecutors. He also wants his new AG to investigate his claims of “massive fraud” in the 2020 election–claims rejected by judges around the country. Will DJT’s AG be asked to investigate those judges? If confirmed will Pam Bondi carry out DJT’s vendettas? Given Bondi’s track record the answer is probably “Yes”.
There is only one problem. If Bondi tries to fire Jack Smith and his DOJ team that would be illegal. Civil servants, like Jack Smith, can only be fired for “good cause”. Nixon tried that during Watergate but failed. Now civil servants are protected against retaliatory firings. They are entitled to hearings and can go into federal court if not fired for “good cause”. That means Bondi will have a hard time making the case that firing Jack Smith or any other DOJ prosecutor was other than DJT’s vengeful retaliation for carrying out their duties under the law.
As a practical matter Jack Smith will probably resign before Bondi tries to fire him. But what about other members of his team who decide to remain on in the DOJ? They will have all the protections of the civil service law and the courts will probably uphold those protections. So even with Pam Bondi DJT will find it difficult to hollow out the DOJ of everyone who is not a loyal supporter of DJT. The law works in mysterious ways!
You said, “NBC News has an article today about Bondi. ”
Oh boy! Can’t wait to read it! NBC News is well-known for their fair and balanced reporting! And accuracy!
* You must know that NBC News is just and fair and balanced with their reporting as Dennis McIntyre is in his posts where he frequently mentions them as his mentor.
Jonathan: So the DOJ has indicted your “swatters”? Just proves one thing. The DOJ under AG Garland is fair and impartial
Dennis: character, integrity, morals, credibility and honesty have been chasing after you for your entire adult life.
You prove every day with the daily deuces you drop here that you have successfully avoided having even one of them catch up with you.
You’re despised here. Mocked here. Called a liar by the group here every day. You convince nobody and instead are rejected by everybody. Yet still you visit to insult your host and the rest of us here.
So what’s the REAL reason you come here where everybody rejects your dishonesty, lies, complete lack of integrity, and daily posts of foaming bitterness and rage?
Democrats can’t still be paying you, Gigi and George. Your employers and you were crushed in the election. You may be one of the creditors VP DEI Hire owes that $20 million.
Are you a psychiatric patient on the loose? One who invented a world in the clouds, then moved in and demands the rest of us move in with you?
Or you don’t get enough attention looking in the mirror in the morning while putting your dentures in, and this is the only other way you can get attention?
Old Airborne Dog: What you wrote proves one thing–you are a MAGA disciple, and just like the MAGAverse you occupy and the MAGA media upon which you rely, you think that you speak for “everybody”—but, you don’t. The election did not “crush” anything–Trump got less than 50% of the popular vote, only got 6 more EC votes than in 2016, and Hillary’s popular vote total was higher when she beat him in 2016. Republican Senate candidates in four swing states that Trump won lost. The election was the product of lies, misogyny, xenophobia, racism and baseless promises about personal wealth soaring and grocery and housing prices falling preciptiously. Like others in the MAGAverse, you believe that anyone who disagrees with you must be mentally ill–but you have it exactly backwards–unquestioning belief in MAGA media and its lies, unquestioning belief that mainstream media are lying and are under the control of the Democrat party, unwavering devotion to a chronic, habitual liar, a convicted criminal, a thief of charitable foundation money, a thief of classified documents, an adjudicated sexual assaulter and fraudster, whose lies about COVID cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and who had the most-disasterous presidency in recent history IS a sign of serious mental illness. Your unwavering belief that Trump was the victim of “lawfare” ignores the facts that are staring you in the face–you KNOW that he stole classified documents, that he lied about having a right to possess them, that he lied about returning them, lied about mentally “declassifying” them, that he tried to bully Secretaries of State to rig the votes—you HEARD the Raffensberger tape–you KNOW that EC documents were forged–and, on some level, you must KNOW that the rest of us not only couldn’t get away with doing these things–we SHOULDN’T–no one should. Then, there’s the insurrection. You, Airborne Dog, and the other MAGAs are the ones living in “a world in the clouds” –and, someday, probably sooner rather than later, after things go to hell under Trump and the utterly unqualified people he put in his cabinet–you’ll figure this out. MAGA media can only lie, try to explain away and shift blame to Democrats for the sh%t storm that’s coming for so long, but we’ve seen what Trump and his ego can do–6 bankruptcies, 3 failed marriages, a disasterous economy, COVID out of control, the country mostly shut down, unemployment higher than when he took office and the worst recession since the Great Depression. Maybe then you’ll wake up.
Americans have been of the MAGA variety in one form or another since before its inception (just read the writings that stirred on our revolt against the tyrannies of absolutism) but the progressive/socialist ideology is the detritus of failed marxism mixed up with the implausible and always failing dreams of utopian idealists. You are chasing after that which exists only in the fevered minds of those unable to accept the realities of life on this planet and will continue to feel on the fringe, (although fiercely defending your illusive utopian dream) because that is where your type resides – on the fringe of reality and reason.
Old Airborne Dog 🐶🐶🐶 you just absolutely destroyed Gigi ❤️👍👍
surely you must be joking?
“surely you must be joking?”
No. It’s just lies presented as Soviet Democrat “political performance art” by Gigi.
Thus her well earned and deserved title as the Democrat Fire Ho Of Lies.
WHAT did I lie about?
Was it racism and misogyny from the democrats that they gave ZERO delegates to the black lady in 2020 and went with the old white guy??
Trump is charged with stealing documents, but obstruction for not returning them. Why is it illegal not to return them if it wasn’t illegal to have them
There are no threats on the Georgia call
Who cares how many marriages he had
6 bankruptcies out of hundreds of businesses is no big deal
Unemployment was higher because dems kept their states shut down
The indictment says that these gentlemen conspired with “persons known and unknown” to commit these actions but does not hint at the identity of the “known” persons; nor does the indictment hint at any political or other motives.
“. . . the Justice Department and these cooperating U.S. and foreign offices for their work in finding the alleged culprits . . .” (JT)
Good for them.
Now, about that pipe bomber . . .
What a disgusting crime, If guilty, give them the max punishment as anyone that is convicted of this sort of crime should get. Disgusting low lifes that do this have zero right to freedom.
But I’m confused. The Justice Department is helping Turley? And we just had an election where the Demos were in charge and there wasn’t fraud? What is going on? The election official that was convicted of a voter fraud related crime in Colorado was a Republican. Maybe the narrative is wrong? Maybe it is Republicans that steal elections?
Elections are run at the state level. You need to go state by state to make this type of claim, it has nothing to do with the party of the President. So fir example in Oregon they are purposely registering non-citizens, and in Pennsylvania a Democratic county commissioner (in charge of vote counting) declared she would intentionally break the law to help Casey win.
What was the lady in Mesa County Colorado convicted of?
Making gay frogs.
So are you saying in Georgia in 2020, when it was controlled by Repos, there was fraud perpetuated by Republicans?
Likewise in Arizona, in 2020 the state was ran by Republicans. So they are also fraudsters?
But the Justice Department is ran by Demos right now, and they are protecting JT?
I just don’t get how massive fraud in 2020 completely disappeared in 2024.
Anonymous posted this from the bitter, angry losing side: I just don’t get how massive fraud in 2020 completely disappeared in 2024.
Could it explain how those 14 million votes Bribery Biden got in 2020 disappeared in 2024 when your Vice President DEI Hire desperately needed them to defeat Trump?
Mesa Country Clerk was convicted of a crime for letting a non authorized person have access to voting machines.
How is it working out for the Cochise Country supervisor that refused to certify the election in 2020? Not so good. She plead guilty of a crime. And how do republicans treat her? Not so good.
“When I was behaving, they were very kind to me,” she said. “But the minute I was saying ‘No, wait, whoa,’ then they hated me, like immediately. And that’s why I don’t want to be a Republican anymore.”
You can read more about her at
https://www.alternet.org/after-amassing-70000-in-legal-bills-az-republican/
* “The election official that was convicted of a voter fraud related crime in Colorado was a Republican. Maybe the narrative is wrong? Maybe it is Republicans that steal elections?”
Obama, Clinton, Marc Elias, Zuckerburg etc. were all convicted of election crimes. Maybe they’re Republicans!
Can’t be: all they got was fines and Alvin Bragg didn’t indict a single one of them. Most likely that proves they are indeed Democrats.
Ah….. from Romania you say ??? Impale them on a pole like their esteemed ancestor Vlad did.
That is all well and good, but, I just wish our DOJ under garland had as much impetus towards prosecuting our home grown miscreants such as Hillary, the biden crime family and those prog/left functionaries that promise to fight ICE agents in order to protect illegals.
This is just eyewash, a hail-mary: “See, we go after real criminals sometimes!” The soft-hearted Trump may be fooled, but Bondi will not.
I hope they let some of the J6 people leave the jails and stuff these criminals into those same cells. One has to wonder if these swatting incidents were managed by groups espousing the same values as Above The Law. It would seem to me likely that these 2 individuals were simply the hired perpetrators and the bigger and better financed group was making the choices and identifying the targets.
Please keep us up to date on further developements.
I wasted a few of the finite number of heart beats I’ve been allocated to read what Joe Patrice wrote in the link.
I’ll say up front that while I am staunchly a social conservative, I believe society benefits from having a vibrant Left. Even a radical Left, to offer opinions and insights about public policy. They can offer a point of view I am blind to see or appreciate.
But the snotty, arrogant, condescending tone – and attacks on character – are now so common among the Left, and so offputting, to make many of them unreadable. I will never knowingly read anything he writes again. That’s unfortunate.
” I believe society benefits from having a vibrant Left. Even a radical Left, to offer opinions and insights about public policy. They can offer a point of view I am blind to see or appreciate. ”
I once thought as you did. But after the ugliness, vindictiveness, and utter insanity that they have produced for the last 8 years, I no longer see any redeeming value, or frankly, any value at all, in leftists. Their imbecilic opinions vary very little, and those opinions are amply and redundantly recorded for posterity at sites such as archive.org. Each of them can end their miserable existence, ASAP. No loss at all, imo.
How to explain such degeneracy and depravity when the offenders are recent immigrants, not a product then of our general cultural nihilism? Could it be that Trump is right, that open borders and lack of enforceable immigration policy and standards attract the world’s worst? We are no longer refuge for the oppressed but rather sanctuary for the world’s worst predators? Oh, what to do, what to do…!
betuadollar says How to explain such degeneracy and depravity when the offenders are recent immigrants
How to explain how you determined they are ‘recent immigrants’ i.e. people who went through the legal process of arriving in America with a valid permanent resident visa in their passport?
Or at least you determined they are Illegal Aliens here as Guest Democrat Voters?
Their names proved their status here in America to you? Or Garland and the DoJ announced that as Illegal Aliens (or immigrants) they are being held on an ICE detention warrant?
Seems a fair question as the DoJ calls them “foreign nationals”. While an earlier report mentioned one of the men charged was living in Serbia while swatting his victims.
This is the same DoJ who just six weeks ago charged a bunch of Putin’s GRU officers, who they also referred to as ‘foreign nationals’. Russians who live far, far away from the USA and who will never appear in an American courtroom. This is not the first time this DoJ (and earlier DoJs) have indicted foreign nationals that are nowhere near being in the USA.
Five Russian GRU Officers and One Civilian Charged for Conspiring to Hack Ukrainian Government
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-russian-gru-officers-and-one-civilian-charged-conspiring-hack-ukrainian-government
Unless they are in fact present in the USA, nobody should hold their breath waiting for Merrick Garland to announce his DoJ has began extradition proceedings.
“How to explain such degeneracy and depravity when the offenders are recent immigrants”
Like the inveterate leftist trolls, here, they were either paid for their efforts, or loons who picked prominent victims in a delusional attempt to convince themselves of their own importance.
Nice Sunday news. One of the many reasons I will remain anonymous. Glad there are people like you that take the risks. Thank you.
Our Secret Service and FBI have offices in Bucharest?
The DNC apparently does. I wonder if Fusion GPS covered the tip. We know the Harris campaign couldn’t.
It’s amazing how we can track down people when we want to. Equally amazing that the leaker of the abortion opinion of SCOTUS has not been identified.
Alien sperm.
This is all well and good but is only half of the problem.
The bigger half of the problem is that SWAT teams are deployed, ready to kill, without the requirement that they get location and ID information from the caller and show some restraint.
The “exigent circumstances ” excuse for the skipping of due process is inexcusable. Just a voice on a phone call removes all warrant requirements, and allows them to invade a home, really?
The protocols for this type of deployment are beyond broken.
OldFish: Every threat must be considered credible until it is proven false. It depends upon what “half of the problem” is acceptable to be wrong about.
Vincente,
Nonsense. Unquestioning obedience to a flawed protocol is what makes the porocess easily hacked.
“The protocols for this type of deployment are beyond broken.”
Yes, the “edgy cop” factor allegation that Prof. Turley referred to is incorrect, but only because it is misdirected. There is an entire “swatting” industry that is largely self-justifying and self-sustaining. It began with drug raids, and the terrorism scares that were caused by 9-11 justified its continuance. It has now been in place for so long that it is for the most part accepted without question. That is not healthy.
Sometimes it’s the reverse. Your arguments and points can be very good, but no one will listen to them
I am very impressed with our law enforcement officers. This is very complicated. Glad they caught the bad guys as this crime is dangerous for first responders and for the victim.
But not as dangerous as all the illegals, or for that matter, the lethality of Hillary in Benghazi. I do think our prog/left DOJ has its priorities backwards.
As the first commenter notes, as dangerous and irritating as this is, it highlights the (for them) new feeling of inevitable failure of the loony left as a political power.
Thank God no one has been hurt in these incidents, as far as i know, but the potential for grievous harm is obvious. I do hope the DOJ goes for maximum sentence on every conviction.
* The “loony left” are terrorists and identifying terrorism in all its forms is difficult. Even an unkind statement is a form of terrorism. Even a statement such as there’s a special place in hell for those people is terrorism. Swatting is obvious terrorism.
Beautiful weather today…
“ Senior Editor Joe Patrice (who has defended “predominantly liberal faculties” and not hiring conservative or libertarian law professors)”
Here we see an application of the Frankfurt SchoolMarxist Herbert Marcuse’s Repressive Tolerance: it’s out there people, everywhere. They can’t win the discussion on the facts, do they suppress the facts from seeing the light of day killing it in the academic crib by preventing professors with other viewpoints being hired. It says more about the weakness of their arguments and their penchant for authoritarianism than anything else.