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A 17-year-old in Pennsylvania was detained Tuesday after authorities identified him as the suspected “swatter” who called in a threat to a Collin County residence last month.
The teen — who is considered a juvenile in Pennsylvania — admitted to making “swatting” calls in several states across the country during an interview with authorities, the Collin County Sheriff’s office said in a news release. Swatting calls happen when someone reports a false threat to lure police, or its SWAT team, to a specified address, according to the FBI.
Authorities said the teen, who will not be named due to his age, is being held in a Pennsylvania juvenile detention center on charges of possessing child pornography, false alarms, false reports and possession of instruments of a crime. Once he satisfies those charges, he will be extradited to Texas on a charge of making a false report to induce an emergency response, according to the sheriff’s office.
Collin County deputies said they received a 911 call about 7:30 p.m. on April 5, in which the caller said he “had just murdered his mother and was inside the residence with a firearm.” Thirty-two personnel from several local agencies responded to a home in the 1600 block of Meadow Creek Drive in Princeton. Law enforcement later determined the call to be a “swatting episode,” deputies said.
Collin County investigators later identified the suspect. On Tuesday, Collin County deputies and Pennsylvania State Police executed search and arrest warrants, taking the 17-year-old into custody, the sheriff’s office said. A forensic exam of the teen’s electronic devices gave evidence of the swatting calls and revealed “many images of child pornography,” deputies said.