EASTMAN, Ga. — Three men are facing federal charges after making prank calls to several police and emergency departments across the country, including one incident in Dodge County, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
18-year-old Owen Jarboe of Maryland, 26-year-old Evan Strauss of Virginia and 18-year-old Brayden Grace of Ohio are all charged with conspiracy, cyberstalking, interstate threatening communications and threats to damage or destroy by means of fire and explosives.
According to the six-count superseding indictment, from approximately Dec. 10, 2023 through at least Jan. 18, 2024, the three men, along with other conspirators, "knowingly and unlawfully conspired to place and caused to be placed swatting calls to multiple police and emergency departments across the United States."
The men were allegedly part of an online group called "Purgatory" and they used multiple social media platforms, like Telegram and Instagram, to plan swatting activities and to announce swats they'd already done.
Swatting, according to the dictionary, is "the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address."
The three men and their conspirators often used shared scripts, the release says.
Other incidents alleged in the indictment are:
- a threat to burn down a residential trailer park in Alabama
- a shooting threat against a teacher and unnamed students at a high school in Delaware
- a shooting and bomb threat to the Albany International Airport in New York
- a shooting and bomb threat against a casino in Ohio
- a multiple homicide event and shooting threat against individuals in a residence in Eastman, Georgia.
The indictment says Jarboe, using a TextNow telephone number, called Fire Station #2 in Eastman and claimed that he shot his aunt and two other teens. He also said he was considering shooting a third teen at a home on Fish Road in Eastman.
13WMAZ talked to Dodge County Sheriff Brian Robinson in January about the call.
"Stated that he had committed a murder. Took two lives," he said. "Possibly had hostages, and any law enforcement officer that showed up, he would use deadly force."
Robinson says when his deputies and other law enforcement agencies got to the scene on Fish Road, they quickly found it was a hoax.
He says even though a call might be a prank, it's important to treat it as if it's real.
"You're having scenarios of where you want to be at, how you're going to place your SRT team, the manpower you're going to have outside covering. There's a lot of different things going on," Robinson said.
He has about 30 deputies in his department, so he says when they need to respond for something big, they all feel the pressure; but swatting attempts leave many of them feeling frustration, too.
"It does make us angry. It makes us very angry because I don't want to lose one of my officers," Robinson said.
If convicted, each person faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count of conspiracy, cyberstalking and interstate threat and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge to damage or destroy by means of fire and explosive, the release says.
However, actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.