Montgomery County Man Admits Threatening Law Enforcement Officer And Family

PHILADELPHIA – Michael Anthony Nohl, 20, of Oaks, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty today to charges from a so-called “swatting” incident that targeted a law enforcement officer and the officer’s family, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.  U.S. District Court Judge Jan E. DuBois scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 9, 2016.

The term “swatting” is generally defined as the act of deceiving an emergency service, such as 911 or other emergency services dispatcher, into dispatching emergency response units, including police SWAT teams, fire departments and medical personnel, based on the false report of an ongoing critical incident.

On December 22, 2014, Nohl was involved in a phone call to the home of the officer in which the officer’s wife and daughter were threatened. The threats included threats to kidnap and murder them and threats to assault and kill the officer. Nohl was charged with, using a telephone or other instruments of interstate or foreign commerce to threaten the use of an explosive to kill, injure, or intimidate an individual, and transmitting any communication containing any threat to injure a person.

Nohl faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, a possible fine, up to three-years of supervised release, and a $200 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney José Arteaga.