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A Canadian teen has pleaded guilty to 12 charges this week related to online harassment and "swatting" families across the US and Canada in 2013 and 2014. He had previously pleaded guilty to 11 other charges, bringing the total to 23 counts of extortion, public mischief, and criminal harassment.
The next hearing will be on June 29th.
According to a report in Canada's Tri City News, the 17-year-old (whose name has not been released) harassed mostly "young, female gamers and their parents" in Canada and the US for ignoring his advances online. His actions, outlined in detail by Tri City News, follow a pattern of threats, doxing, and swatting. He would threaten his victims, hack their social media accounts and tweet out personal information, and then call the police to demand a ransom, while claiming to have bombs or guns at the homes of his victims. He also admitted to a bomb hoax that shut down Disneyland's Space Mountain last year.
In early December 2014, he posted an eight-hour live stream to YouTube that showed him tormenting his victims, Tri City News reports. He was arrested on December 5th and remains in police custody.
This is not the first time a person has faced jail time for online harassment — a Nevada teenager currently faces five years in prison for orchestrating swatting attacks on video gamers — but it is a rare occurrence when online harassment sees tangible consequences.
The teen will return to court on June 29th for sentencing.
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