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Teen is accused of orchestrating hundreds of swattings — including against his own home
nbcnews.com ^ | February 1, 2024 | Michael Kosnar and Zoë Richards

Posted on 02/01/2024 5:30:46 PM PST by lowbridge

A California teenager accused of being behind a flurry of swatting incidents across the country targeting schools and the homes of FBI agents has been arrested in connection with a swatting attempt at a Florida mosque last year, according to court documents filed by state prosecutors.

Alan Winston Filion, 17, was arrested last month at his home in Lancaster, California, and extradited to Florida on Tuesday, court documents say. He was charged as an adult on four felonies, including charges related to false reporting that triggered law enforcement response. 

Filion entered a not guilty plea to the charges. He is being held without bail at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility.

Filion is allegedly behind hundreds of swatting incidents across the country targeting high schools, historically Black colleges and the homes of FBI agents, according to a motion filed by the government to secure Filion’s detention in the mosque case. He even allegedly targeted his own home.

In May of last year, deputies from the Seminole County law enforcement responded to a caller who said he was armed with a handgun and explosives and was entering the Masjid Al Hayy Mosque in Sanford, Florida, to carry out a mass shooting, according to county records.

Upon their arrival, officers said they saw a woman and her two children at the building’s entrance and identified the call as a hoax after speaking with them, records show.

According to newly unsealed court documents obtained by NBC News, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI have tracked Filion’s posts on Telegram offering up his swatting services, as well as recordings of swatting calls. They allege he was responsible for hundreds of swatting incidents, including in Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. The swatting attempts allegedly have included bomb threats at high schools

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: 2023; 202305; 202401; alanfilion; alanwinstonfilion; attemptedmurder; blackcolleges; bombthreats; california; crime; fbiagents; fbiagentshomes; filion; florida; highschools; lancaster; masjidalhayy; masjidalhayymosque; mosque; mosqueplots; sanford; swatting; swattingservices; telegram; terrorist; threats; thrrats
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1 posted on 02/01/2024 5:30:46 PM PST by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

Hundreds? I guess phone-tracing technology must be in its infancy.


2 posted on 02/01/2024 5:34:19 PM PST by Disambiguator
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To: lowbridge
Alan Winston Filion, 17, of Lancaster, California:


3 posted on 02/01/2024 5:39:36 PM PST by jonrick46 (Leftniks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
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To: lowbridge

They have caught a bad teenage boy. Unfortunately, the supply of bad teenage boys is about equal to the supply of Florida Men.


4 posted on 02/01/2024 5:44:23 PM PST by proxy_user (W)
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To: lowbridge

I smell BS. Swatting is most exclusively a Left wing game. Magically after 10s of thousands of Conservatives being swatted, they magically catch a guy “targeting FBT Agents, Black Schools and Mosques”.


5 posted on 02/01/2024 5:44:57 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Don't blame me, my congressman is MTG!)
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To: lowbridge

He might serve a sentence in each state he swatted. He’ll be gone for awhile.


6 posted on 02/01/2024 5:45:22 PM PST by Jonty30 (In a nuclear holocaust, there is always a point in time where the meat is cooked to perfection. )
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To: MNJohnnie

I think wanting the police to shoot people would qualify as a left-wing thing.


7 posted on 02/01/2024 5:46:25 PM PST by Jonty30 (In a nuclear holocaust, there is always a point in time where the meat is cooked to perfection. )
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To: lowbridge

It’s amazing that they can catch the guy who swats mosques and feds, but they can never seem to find the people who swat conservatives.


8 posted on 02/01/2024 5:47:30 PM PST by Christopher
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To: lowbridge

According to another article he was doing this for money — $75 a pop.


9 posted on 02/01/2024 5:51:56 PM PST by Blurb2350 (posted from my 1500-watt blow dryer)
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To: Blurb2350

in which case, it’ll be very important to track down who paid the money to him.


10 posted on 02/01/2024 5:55:58 PM PST by dadfly
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To: lowbridge

Seems they should have been able to catch him after the first time or two.

Great work, FBI. Glad you got him after 100s of tries.


11 posted on 02/01/2024 5:56:13 PM PST by boycott
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To: Christopher

“but they can never seem to find the people who swat conservatives.”

Or plant fake bombs in front of political HQs after driving own car and using own public transportation pass.

Yeah, the fed.gov knows exactly who did that but juuust can’t seem to find him at his home or driving his car.

I suppose they will drive by the house again next month.

Perhaps they will spot him mowing the snow in the front yard or something.

.


12 posted on 02/01/2024 5:58:15 PM PST by TLI (ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
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To: lowbridge

So they can catch these people - when they really want to


13 posted on 02/01/2024 6:04:29 PM PST by NWFree (Sigma male 🤪)
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To: lowbridge

Draw and quarter him.


14 posted on 02/01/2024 6:06:03 PM PST by 2CAVTrooper (Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.)
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To: Disambiguator

Could have used a VPN


15 posted on 02/01/2024 6:11:15 PM PST by ConjunctionJunction (Vim vi repellere licet)
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To: jonrick46

This boy needs a thorough psychiatric analyst.
If he already has a psychiatrist, maybe his meds need to be adjusted. He has mucho rage, just barely contained.
Eventually, if not already, his father would become a target of that rage.

The people he Swats are barely more than dots on a monitor to him, or a parade of ever changing Avatars with no meaning to him.
Maybe he’s an Incel or one of ‘Them’.


16 posted on 02/01/2024 6:12:00 PM PST by lee martell
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To: boycott

then they could only blame him for just one instead of the many committed by others swatting conservatives


17 posted on 02/01/2024 6:13:04 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist! )
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To: jonrick46

Dude looks like a lady. A chubby one.


18 posted on 02/01/2024 6:22:47 PM PST by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.)
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To: lowbridge

“hundreds of swattings”

Then, “a flurry of swatting incidents”

Then, “charged as an adult on FOUR felonies”

Hundreds —> Flurry —> Four


19 posted on 02/01/2024 6:28:15 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“Occupy your mind with good thoughts or your enemy will fill them with bad ones.” ~ Thomas More)
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To: HighSierra5

“Dude looks like a lady. A chubby one.”

I’d guess trans.


20 posted on 02/01/2024 6:29:27 PM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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