A conspiracy involving a former leader and founding member of violent white supremacist group Atomwaffen targeted police forces in Canada in a large “swatting” campaign, U.S. prosecutors allege.
The group used the harassment technique of reporting fake emergencies to trick heavily armed police teams, often called SWAT units, in masked calls to 11 police agencies across Canada: the RCMP in Alberta, B.C. and New Brunswick; the Ontario Provincial Police; and municipal police forces in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Bancroft, Sudbury, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, according to documents filed in court.
U.S. federal authorities charged several alleged members of the neo-Nazi group on Wednesday for running intimidation campaigns against journalists and members of the Anti-Defamation League in retaliation for reporting on the group’s members and activities.
Among those arrested was John Cameron Denton, 26, of Montgomery, Texas, for an alleged “swatting” conspiracy. He is charged with making interstate threats to injure.
His criminal charge specifically relates to hoax calls sending police scrambling to intervene in faked incidents in Virginia involving a U.S. Cabinet official, a university, a Baptist church and — at the request of Denton — ProPublica, a New York-based newsroom, and one of its journalists who revealed Denton’s identity and role in Atomwaffen, the Federal Bureau of Investigation alleges. (more...)
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