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An 18-year-old youth from Oregon is facing a 10-year prison term for making swatting (malicious hoax) calls threatening to bomb schools in northern Ohio.
Nathan Hayes, of Sweet Home, was indicted on June 3 by a federal grand jury and is charged with making Threatening Communications Involving Explosives.
According to the Ohio Northern District U.S. Attorney’s Office, the threats were allegedly made on or about March 4 to five schools and a career center in northern Ohio.
Schools Were Placed in Lockdown While Searched for Bombs
However, a criminal complaint filed on May 21 states that a law-enforcement investigation uncovered threats to at least 17 schools in Ohio. This resulted in the schools being placed in lockdown while the premises were searched for bombs or other signs of terrorism.
All of the calls were found to be swatting and originated from out of state.
An investigation identified Hayes as the caller, who allegedly used multiple aliases to threaten the schools and organizations, offering to sell them swatting services. He is also known to have doxed (revealing private information publicly) at least one person in Illinois.
Hayes is said to have followed media coverage to monitor the reaction to his swatting calls.
He is scheduled to appear in a federal court on June 12 and, if convicted, could face 10 years in prison.
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