A B.C. judge has sentenced a Coquitlam teen who pleaded guilty to two ‘swatting’ incidents in Florida to 16 months in custody and eight months of community supervision this morning.
The teen, who cannot be identified due to his age, will get credit for the eight months he has already served and will not be allowed to access the internet without the supervision of a youth worker while at the detention centre.
According to courtroom testimony, a psychiatric report depicts the teen as a psychopath, sadistic, callus and that he has shown no remorse over the incident.
The two incidents of ‘swatting’, which is a prank that involves a hoax call to police for the purpose of having a SWAT or Special Weapons and Tactics team respond to a home, school or business; happened in 2014 in the communities of Winter Haven and Fort Meade in Polk County, Florida.
According to the Polk County Sherriff’s Office (PCSO), their investigation began in September 2014 when an unidentified man called the PCSO and said he was going to Fort Mead High School to shoot everyone. The police swat team responded and locked down the school for hours.
Then in November, the same person allegedly called police to a home, saying he had just killed his parents, and would shoot officers who arrived. The police swat team also responded to the call.
READ MORE: Coquitlam teen facing multiple charges in alleged “swatting” incidents
Polk County Sherriff Grady Judd told Global News that the teen believed he was in a relationship with a girl from the Fort Mead high school and when he wanted to advance the relationship, the girl declined. That’s when the 17-year-old Coquitlam boy allegedly ‘swatted’ the Fort Mead high school, according to Judd.
The teen eventually pleaded guilty to victimizing 29 people by ‘swatting’ — nine counts of harassment, eight counts of mischief, four counts of extortion, one count of breaching conditions and one count of making threats.
Global News reporter Rumina Daya covered today’s sentencing and tweeted the following information:
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