LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Thursday to reporting false emergencies to police in West Covina, Oxnard and other cities and using a Ring camera in his home to taunt officers.
Kaia Christian Nelson, 23, of Racine, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of unauthorized access to a secure computer to obtain information, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a news release. Ta.
From November 7 to 13, 2020, Nelson engaged in an act of “swatting” by falsely reporting unsafe conditions at homes across the country and live streaming the ensuing police raids on social media. “At times, he mocked responding officers in areas such as West Covina and Oxnard,” the Justice Department said.
These officers only removed residents of homes at gunpoint because the reports they received often indicated that children were in danger from adults with guns. It happened often.
“The defendant’s malicious actions traumatized the victims and endangered their lives, as well as the lives of the responding officers,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a Justice Department release. . This incident, which wastes law enforcement resources at the expense of taxpayers and distracts officers from responding to real crisis situations, is a major challenge for security doorbell users who use difficult passwords or This is a reminder of the importance of practicing strict cyber hygiene. Two-factor authentication. ”
Nelson has been in a Kentucky state prison since August after being convicted in an unrelated case and faces up to five years in federal prison for each charge when he is sentenced on May 1. be.
One of Nelson’s co-conspirators, James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 22, of Arizona, was sentenced in June to seven years in federal prison.
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