Riverside Swatter Faces 18-Count Indictment

A 31-year-old Riverside County man has been arrested and charged with an 18-count indictment for allegedly placing ‘swatting calls’ threatening mass shootings at schools and an international airport in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the Justice Department announced today.

Eduardo Vicente Pelayo Rodriguez, 31, of Riverside, California, was arrested Tuesday and his arraignment is scheduled for this afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside. He faces charges of one count of stalking, seven counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce, seven counts engaging in hoaxes, and three counts of transmitting threats or false information regarding fire and explosives.

According to the indictment, Rodriguez allegedly placed more than a dozen calls between January and February of 2023, using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to impersonate a victim and make threatening calls to various locations, including schools and an airport.

The indictment alleges that Rodriguez called a suicide prevention center and a veterans crisis hotline, claiming to be the victim and threatening to commit suicide or kill others. He then allegedly called school staff at seven different schools in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as well as Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and threatened to commit either a mass shooting or bombing at the schools.

Rodriguez also allegedly called Nashville International Airport in Tennessee, saying he had planted a bomb on a plane and in the airport, and referencing ISIS. Law enforcement responded to these phone calls and determined they were fake.

‘The sorts of ‘swatting’ crimes alleged against this defendant are highly troubling,’ said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. ‘The indictment alleges that the defendant placed calls to schools, airports, and other locations that were designed to cause maximum fear and trigger an emergency response. ‘Swatting’ is a serious crime that can cause great trauma and risk loss of life, so it is important that we hold wrongdoers accountable.’

If convicted of the charges, Rodriguez would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison on the stalking count, five years on each of the threats counts, five years on each of the hoax counts, and 10 years on each of the counts relating to fire and explosives.