US: Man sends fake mass shooting, bomb threats after fantasy football spat

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, 25, of 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 on 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. The false tips diverted authorities from real incidents and investigations, she said.

“Hoax threats aren’t a joke or protected speech, they’re a crime,” Romero 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 lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

When Gabriel learned last year that the person with who he had the online dispute was going abroad to study in Norway, Gabriel sent an anonymous tip to the Norwegian Police Security Service that 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,” he wrote.

Law enforcement officials in Norway and the US scrambled for five days and spent hundreds of hours investigating the threat. FBI officials tracked down Gabriel and he admitted 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, officials said.

Gabriel, however, knew the threat was false and was part of a longer conversation that clearly showed the original message had been made in jest, the Justice Department said.

Gabriel pleaded guilty on two charges 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 January 7.