A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to sending false tips to law enforcement officials about a potential mass shooting and bombing plot, apparently trying to frame a member of his fantasy football group after the two had an online dispute.
Matthew Gabriel, a 25-year-old from Philadelphia, sent fake, anonymous tips to law enforcement, knowingly and falsely describing the other person as someone plotting a mass shooting in Norway and a bombing in Iowa, the Justice Department said in a news release Wednesday. Authorities did not name the other person.
Gabriel’s actions “consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents,” Jacqueline C. Romero, a federal prosecutor, said in the release. The false tips diverted authorities from actual incidents and investigations, she added.
“Hoax threats aren’t a joke or protected speech, they’re a crime,” she said. “My advice to keyboard warriors who’d like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit ‘post’ or ‘send.’”
Gabriel’s attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
When Gabriel learned last year that the person with whom he had the online dispute was going to study abroad in Norway, Gabriel sent an anonymous tip to the Norwegian Police Security Service and said the person planned to commit a mass shooting, the Justice Department said.
“On August 15th a man … is headed around oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved. they plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store,” Gabriel wrote in the anonymous online tip.
“I just can’t have random people dying on my conscience,” Gabriel added.
Law enforcement officials in Norway and the United States scrambled for five days and spent hundreds of hours investigating the threat. FBI officials tracked down Gabriel, and he admitted to submitting the false tip.
Then, in March, as Gabriel was being prosecuted for sending the false mass shooting tip, he posed as another person and emailed the University of Iowa with the subject line “Possible Threat.” He shared a screenshot from his fantasy football chat group containing a message that appeared to suggest the same person was going to bomb the University of Iowa, officials said.
Gabriel, however, knew that the threat was false, and was part of a longer conversation that clearly showed the original message had been made in jest, according to the release.
Gabriel pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure and faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 7.