A Romanian citizen has admitted to participating in a troubling scheme involving “swatting” calls and bomb threats aimed at intimidating numerous individuals, including a former U.S. president and several Congress members.
The individual, Thomasz Szabo, 26, is set to face sentencing on October 23 by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C. Szabo was extradited from Romania in November 2024 and has been charged alongside Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, from Serbia.
Szabo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and another for making bomb threats. Together, the two men targeted around 100 people, aiming to provoke a forceful police response by falsely reporting emergencies at the victims’ homes.
While the official indictment does not explicitly mention the former president or other officials by name as targets, it refers to a “former elected official from the executive branch” who was swatted on January 9, 2024. One report claims Radovanovic falsely reported a homicide and threatened to detonate an explosion at the official’s residence.
Interestingly, Szabo informed Radovanovic that they should select their targets from both Republican and Democratic parties, suggesting a motivation beyond political alignment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi stated, “This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from overseas.”
As for Radovanovic, charges against him remain pending, and online court records show he has yet to make an appearance in a Washington court.
