Legal Report: An 18-Year-Old Pleads Guilty to Making More than 375 Swatting Calls, Faces Up To 20 Years in Prison
Security Management’s Legal Report is a monthly column that highlights the instances where legal matters intersect with the security industry. Our team tracks court cases, new and developing legislation, and regulatory decisions or investigations that affect private organizations and security professionals worldwide.
To share a tip or notify Security Management about emerging legal issues, email Associate Editor Sara Mosqueda at [email protected].
Judicial Decisions
United States
Exploitation. A U.S. federal court sentenced a member of 764, a network of violent extremists, to serve 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child.
Richard Densmore pled guilty to the charge and received the maximum penalty for the charge at the behest of prosecutors. Densmore was also accused of creating online networks for 764, where minors were forced to record themselves engaging in self-harm, sexually explicit acts, and violence.
The federal government identified 764, also called “the com,” as a group that aims to normalize the production, sharing, and possession of child pornography, as well as desensitizing minors to violence, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release. (United States of America v. Richard Anthony Reyna Densmore, U.S. District Court of the Western District of Michigan, No. 24-cr-7, 2024)
Swatting. Alan Filion, 18, pled guilty to four counts of making interstate threats to injure other people by making hundreds of swatting phone calls across the United States.
From California, Filion targeted schools, government officials, religious groups, and more victims in other U.S. states by calling in fake threats of attacks, such as pending mass shootings, bombings, or other kinds of violence, between August 2022 and January 2024. He made more than 375 swatting and threatening calls, and in some of these calls he would claim to have planted bombs or that he was about to carry out a mass shooting. Filion made these calls to instigate a large response from police and emergency responders, including SWAT teams, redirecting resources from actual emergencies and traumatizing victims at the targeted locations.
Filion was a “serial swatter for both profit and recreation,” according to the plea agreement. He admitted that he decided to turn swatting into a business roughly six to nine months after his first swatting. Filion would offer to make fraudulent emergency calls with varying prices for different emergencies, which included gas leaks, fires, police emergencies, bomb threats, and mass shooting threats.
Filion faces up to five years in prison for each count he pled guilty to. His sentencing is scheduled for 11 February 2025. (United States of America v. Alan Filion, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 24-cr-261, 2024)
Legislation
Belgium
Workplace safety. A new law (No. 2024202750) will grant sex workers paid maternity leave and other standard benefits and protections in Belgium. The law was enacted in May and went into effect on 1 December 2024.
Belgium decriminalized sex work in 2022, and the new law further protects sex workers from exploitation and violence, according to researchers and advocates. The law applies to adult legal residents and citizens. It allows sex workers to sign formal employment contracts, which would give them greater access to the nation’s social security system, including paid sick leave, paid maternity leave, unemployment benefits, and the ability to contribute to their pensions.
Workers will also be granted workplace safety measures, including panic buttons in rooms where they interact with clients. The law also requires ongoing and specific consent from sex workers; those who sign a contract can refuse clients and acts or choose to interrupt or alter the conditions of an act, without employer repercussions.
Additional provisions for workers from their employers outlined by the law include protections against illegal termination or other methods of exploitation. The law also prohibits anyone with a conviction for trafficking, rape, homicide, or other violent crimes from working as a pimp.
Paraguay
Non-profits. In November, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña signed into law a bill that gives the government the power to shut down any non-governmental organization (NGO) that does not comply with additional audits, which some critics describe as onerous or overly burdensome.
Non-profits are now required to regularly document in a government register where their funding comes from and what it is used for.
Critics of the law—the Ley de Transparencia de las Organizaciones Sin Fines de Lucro (OSFL)—include opposition politicians, United Nation advisors, legal experts, international credit rating firms, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), who have warned that the law is vague and could be abused to intimidate the ruling party’s political opponents, critics, or other sources of dissention.
Any NGOs violating the law could receive a suspension of up to six months. The only organizations exempt from the law are faith groups, football clubs, and political parties.
U.S. States
Criminal records. New York’s Clean Slate Act (A01029C/S07551-A) took effect on 16 November 2024, automatically sealing misdemeanor and certain felony criminal records for people who were previously incarcerated.
The law—which aims to prevent discrimination of job applicants with a prior prison sentence—was signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in November 2023. Security Management previously covered the new law and its requirements in a Legal Report published in December 2023.
Sick leave. American voters in Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska voted to pass ballot measures that create sick leave laws in 2025. The measures will require employers to provide paid sick leave for qualified employees. For more on these and other ballot measures passed in November 2024, check out Security Management’s Today in Security post from 14 November.
Hotel safety. New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed legislation aiming to ensure hotel safety for hotels, staff, and guests within the city.
The Safe Hotels Act (Int. No. 0991-2024) will mandate a licensing system for hotels operating in the city. The license is valid for two years and costs $350. As part of the application for the license, operators must submit information to comply with certain operational, safety, and staffing mandates.
If a hotel is found to be violating the license, the city can impose fines that start at $500 for first offenders and end at $5,000 for repeat offenses.
Hotels must adhere to certain staffing requirements, including providing continuous coverage of the front desk, as well as having core employees and security guards who have been trained to recognize human trafficking. Large hotels (ones with more than 400 rooms) will be required to maintain continuous security guard coverage on site.
Core employees—staff involved in housekeeping, the front desk, or front service for the hotel—must be directly employed by the hotel. Small hotels (ones with fewer than 100 rooms) are exempt from this requirement.
Hotels will need to provide certain employees with panic buttons—specifically staff that enter occupied guest rooms, such as housekeeping.
The law is slated to take effect on 3 May 2025.
Regulations
United States
Automotive recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined that American car manufacturer Ford moved too slowly to recall its cars that had faulty rearview cameras and must pay a fine of up to $165 million—$65 million of which must be paid immediately.
The three-year investigation looked into Ford’s decision in 2020 to recall 600,000 vehicles for defective safety cameras, which sometimes showed drivers a blank screen when activated.
Ford violated federal regulations when it failed to immediately notify the NHTSA about the defect and failed to submit timely quarterly reports about the recall’s progress, according to the NHTSA.
A portion of the fine—up to $55 million—depends on how well Ford adheres to the terms of a consent order for the next three years. The ruling orders Ford to place the remaining sum, $45 million, into investments in advanced data tools and a new testing facility dedicated to analyzing rearview camera components. (In re: Ford Motor Company, U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, No. RQ21-002, 2024)
Also of Interest
Security Management tracks court cases, bills, laws, and regulatory issues that impact the security industry. Here are some of the stories that are of current interest.
Discrimination. A former employee filed a lawsuit against postal company Federal Express Corporation, claiming that the company discriminated against him because of his deafness, retaliated against him, and failed to provide reasonable accommodations.
Domestic terrorism. The FBI arrested a Florida man for allegedly planning to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. Harun Yener, 30, is charged with attempting to use an explosive device with the intent of destroying or damaging a building used in interstate commerce.
Extremism. A Norwegian court rejected mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik’s second request for parole. Breivik is serving a 21-year prison sentence (the maximum sentence in the nation) for a car bombing and mass shooting in 2011, which resulted in the deaths of 77 people. Most of the victims were teenagers. Under Norwegian law, he is eligible for a parole hearing after serving 10 years in prison. Breivik claimed his treatment and time in prison has been inhumane and a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights; however, the courts have rejected these claims. Breivik is expected to appeal the court’s most recent decision and is allowed to apply for parole again one year after a rejection.
Fraud. Tokyo police arrested a British man on suspicion of stealing ¥13 million ($83,400) from at least one company executive. The suspect, who has denied the allegations, allegedly swapped out cash during a fake gold transaction. Law enforcement officials are investigating links to five other similar incidents in Tokyo.
National security. A Hong Kong court sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to prison for violating a national security law. Defendants faced a maximum sentence of life in prison for their involvement in 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations. The longest sentence handed down was 10 years to Benny Tai, a former law professor who helped organize an unofficial primary election.
Non-profits. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (HR 9495) in late November. The bill would give the federal government the ability to punish non-profit organizations that it determines support terrorism. If the Senate passes the bill and U.S. President Biden signs it into law, the U.S. Treasury would be able to remove the tax-exempt status of any non-profit organization the department claims supports terrorism; department would not be held to an evidentiary standard in releasing its findings. As of the time of publication, the bill has not been introduced in the Senate.
Outage. Delta Air Lines filed a lawsuit against cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike over a software update that caused the airline’s computers and systems to crash, ultimately causing the airline to delay and cancel flights on a large scale.
Racketeering. Nearly 400 fans of Taylor Swift and other musicians filed a lawsuit accusing Ticketmaster and its parent company of conspiring with other organizations to inflate ticket prices, allegedly violating the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Sara Mosqueda is associate editor at Security Management. Email her tips at [email protected] or connect with her via LinkedIn, on BlueSky @SaraMosqueda.bsky.social, or on Twitter @XimenaWrites.
