By Jerald Jimenez
01 Feb 2024, 17:06 PM EST
A California teenager was arrested for his alleged involvement in a hoax call to a Florida mosque last year, as well as other similar anti-Semitic incidents.
The suspect, identified as Alan Winston Filion, 17, of Lancaster, California, faces multiple serious charges after being accused of making a swatting call to the Masjid Al Hayy mosque in Sanford, Florida.
The term swatting consists of making a false call to the police to report a serious emergency situation in a home or building in order to provoke the intervention of the SWAT team.
On May 12, 2023, the mosque received a phone call from a person claiming to be entering the location to carry out a mass shooting, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said.
The caller said he had a gun and explosives, and alluded to Satanism, according to the sheriff’s office. He also played gunshots in the background during the call.
About 30 law enforcement officers went to the Masjid Al Hayy mosque, and determined that the call was a case of swatting when they found that there was no shooter.
SCSO’s Homeland Security Division (DSD), along with the FBI, discovered that Filion was behind the May 12 call.
Investigators also learned that Filion had carried out other swatting incidents, as he was found to have created several online accounts offering “swatting services.” Several IP addresses linked to these accounts led investigators to Filion’s home in California.
Filion’s arrest occurred on January 18, 2024. He was taken to the Los Angeles Godfathers Youth Center before being extradited to Seminole County, Florida, on Thursday. There he was admitted to the John E. Polk Correctional Center without bail.
Filion is being prosecuted as an adult for false reports, illegal use of communication devices and swatting.
With information from Fox News