Related Federal Cases
California Man Pleads Guilty to Making School Shooting Threat in Louisiana
A California man has pleaded guilty to making a false threat of a school shooting in Church Point, Louisiana, a town that was shaken by the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting just a day earlier.
Randall Swanson, 54, of Sacramento, California, pleaded guilty to one count of false information or hoaxes before U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik. According to evidence presented at the guilty plea, during an online conversation on December 15, 2012, Swanson sent an online message to a person he believed to be from Church Point, that “the next school massacre happing in ur town.”
Swanson followed the online message with photographs and other information about how the crime would occur. The victim who received the messages contacted local and state authorities. Swanson later admitted he was in California when the messages were sent, and his intentions were to alarm the person he had been messaging online.
The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a tragedy that our state and nation mourned. This defendant used that tragedy to perpetuate a hoax and caused confusion, wasting the time and resources of first responders in the region.
Swanson faces five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. A sentencing date has not been set.
The FBI, Louisiana State Police, and Church Point Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Myers P. Namie is prosecuting the case.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley stated, “The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a tragedy that our state and nation mourned. This defendant used that tragedy to perpetuate a hoax and caused confusion, wasting the time and resources of first responders in the region. Those who make such false threats will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Key Facts
- State: Louisiana
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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