Romanian man sentenced to 4 years for swatting Congress members
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A Romanian national who admitted participating in a series of attack calls and bomb threats targeting U.S. government officials, including members of Congress, Cabinet-level officials, federal judges and heads of federal law enforcement, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison.
Federal prosecutors asked the judge to impose a five-year prison sentence for Thomasz Szabo, 27, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and menacing charges last June.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson presided over the trial in Washington, D.C. Szabo used the online pseudonyms “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher” and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats involving an explosive on June 2, 2025, according to the Department of Justice.
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U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced that Thomasz Szabo, 27, of Romania, was sentenced to four years in prison for a series of attack calls targeting members of Congress and other government officials. (Nathan Howard/Reuters, File)
“This administration will not tolerate attacks on institutions and individuals who serve this country,” said Jeanine Pirro, US Attorney for the District of Columbia. “Szabo was extradited from Romania to face justice in an American courtroom and today he faces the consequences of his actions.”
Slapping, the act of making false threats in a target’s home to provoke tactical intervention by law enforcement, has become a prolific form of harassment in recent years and poses a growing public safety hazard.
“Swatting is not only a nuisance, it is extremely dangerous,” said U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan. “I’m proud of our investigators, but also grateful to our prosecutors and law enforcement partners for their determined efforts to ensure justice is served. This shows that we will travel around the world to pursue threats.”
Court documents state that Szabo ran online chat servers focused on “trolling” in Romania starting in 2018.
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Capitol police officers chat on the Capitol steps in Washington, DC (Kylie Cooper/Reuters, File)
By 2020, prosecutors say, he had begun his coup campaign. Serbian Nemanja Radovanovic is also accused in the plan.
In December 2023, Szabo instructed his associates to select targets from both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Radovanovic and his partner, Alan Filion, allegedly targeted at least 25 members of Congress or their relatives, along with dozens of other state and federal officials.
“Police departments and other first responders were repeatedly hijacked by the defendant and dispatched to fictitious emergencies,” prosecutors said. he wrote. “As a result, fewer personnel and resources were available to respond to true emergencies.”
The US Capitol building is shown in Washington DC A Romanian man has admitted to participating in a series of “attack” calls targeting members of Congress as well as other government officials. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg, File via Getty Images)
The pair reportedly boasted to Szabo about their adventure, saying, “I had more than 25 hits.” [calls] today,” he said, claiming they had created “a huge mess in America with more than $500,000 in taxpayer dollars.” [dollars] “It was wasted in just two days.”
Szabo was extradited from Romania in November 2024.
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Filion, who was 18 when he was sentenced in February 2025, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to making approximately 375 phone calls between August 2022 and January 2024.
Radovanovic’s case is still pending, according to authorities.
