BALTIMORE, MD—A federal grand jury has indicted three people, accusing them of placing a series of bomb threats against schools, hospitals, airports, and other institutions.

Owen Jarboe, 18, of Hagerstown, Maryland; Evan Strauss, 26, of Moneta, Virginia; and Brayden Grace, 18, of Columbus, Ohio; were charged in a six-count indictment with conspiracy, cyberstalking, interstate threatening communications and threats to damage or destroy by means of fire and explosives. The suspects were indicted in connection with a string of swatting calls that took place from December 2023 to January 2024.

According to the indictment, the suspects were part of an online group called “Purgatory” and used social media platforms, including Telegram and Instagram, to coordinate and plan their swatting activities. The indictment alleges that they often used shared scripts to obfuscate their phone numbers and identities.

Federal officials said the swatting calls included threats 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, and a multiple homicide event and shooting threat against individuals in a residence in Eastman, Georgia.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy, cyberstalking and interstate charges and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the charge of damaging or destroying by means of fire and explosives.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels