Bomb Threats to SJV in Holmdel, Other Schools Tied to Connecticut X-Box Gamer, Swatting Ring

A 21-year-old Connecticut resident has been arrested and federally charged for his involvement in a “swatting” ring, which affected two Monmouth County schools in January of this year, according to authorities.

Matthew Tollis, of Wethersfield, was first arrested in connection to an April 2014 bomb threat made to the University of Connecticut and is now facing additional charges for his involvement with the “swatting” ring, who call themselves “TCOD”, or “Team Crucifix or Die,” according to the FBI. They comprise mostly Microsoft X-Box gamers, including three residents of the UK who are also being investigated by the FBI.

An ongoing investigation by the FBI revealed that Tollis, in connection with TCOD, engaged in swatting threats to schools and other locations in New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas, including Saint John Vianney in Holmdel, and Allenwood High School in Upper Freehold, according to court documents from the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Connecticut.

“Swatting” is the act of calling in a hoax 9-1-1 call or emergency call, in order to cause a response from emergency services, such as SWAT teams and other law enforcement groups. Many celebrities became the victims of swatting calls throughout 2014 as the hoax became an unfortunate trend among pranksters.

These calls are made to seem as if they are coming from the victim’s phone, causing an otherwise harmless prank to become, usually, a large scale response from law enforcement agencies that are required by protocol to talk the calls of this nature very seriously.

The swatting event is a major inconvenience for both the victim targets of the calls as well as the agencies forced to respond, who waste valuable time, resources, and manpower on the fake threats.

On January 15, 2014, the Holmdel Police Department was ”swatted” when a call was made to the department at approximately 11:40 a.m. from what was later determined to be a Skype default telephone number. According to the court affidavit, the person who called the Holmdel Police Department stated that he was at the St. John Yianney High School in Homdel, and that a masked man had grabbed him in the bathroom.

According to the caller, the masked man threatened to blow up the school, and was armed with a pistol. The caller also stated that the masked man stated that he had sarin gas. The caller stated that he ran out of the high school, and then called Holmdel police.

Holmdel Police immediately responded to St. John Vianney High School to evacuate the school and place it in lock down. Each room was searched and cleared by police, and over 1,000 students, faculty, and staff were instructed to exit the school at the rear of the building to St. Benedict’s Church.

The search for the suspect and evacuation was conducted by multiple agencies, including the Holmdel, Hazlet and Matawan police departments, the FBI, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department, the New Jersey State Police, and the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team.

The Monmouth County K-9 Explosive Detection Unit also responded to the scene, and determined that there were no explosive devices. After conducting a sweep of the school two times, it was determined that there were no weapons, explosive devices, or a masked and armed man, and the school was cleared to reopen at 2:45 p.m.

“It was an unsubstantiated threat and appears to be a hoax,” Acting-Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni said at the time.

A lengthy investigation was then conducted by Detective Andrew Kret and the Holmdel Police Department, in conjunction with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the FBI Office out of Newark. Based on information obtained during the investigation, law enforcement was able to determine the account name tied to the Skype call.

Further investigation found that on the day of the bomb threat, a Twitter user tweeted information and photographs of the law enforcement response and evacuation of St. John Vianney High School to another Twitter Account, from which the user then tweeted that they were responsible for the Saint John Vianney bomb threat hoax.

The FBI’s analysis of the photographs in the tweets revealed that the account holder was a juvenile student who attended St. John Vianney High School at the time of the incident. The FBI reviewed the tweets between the two Twitter accounts, and determined that the minor student had spoken on Twitter with the second Twitter user, who told the minor student that he was going to call in a hoax at St. John Vianney High School that would result in a SWAT team being sent there.

According to court documents, Tollis stated that he had seen a screenshot of messages between the two Twitter users that the student had paid the prankster for the hoax call, but was not able to say whether a payment had actually been made or not.

Tollis admitted to investigators that he had taken part in the hoax call, but that he never spoke during the Saint John Vianney swatting call and just ”laughed in the background of the call”.

The 15-year-old student was later arrested on August 20 by the Holmdel Police Department, and charged with Creating a False Public Alarm and Terroristic Threats.

When contacted by Patch after the arrest, Holmdel Police Lt. Keith Cannata declined to reveal whether the juvenile was a Holmdel resident.

The suspect was charged at police headquarters and then released to his parents. The case was then sent to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Based on information received by Twitter, authorities were able to determine that the Twitter user who claimed responsibility for the call and the Skype account used to make the call both had the same IP Address. Tollis had also made claims to investigators that both users were the same person.

On January 16, 2014 a threat to the Upper Freehold Regional School District was made by a male caller, claiming a bomb had been placed in the bathroom of a school, but the caller did not specify which school. The school district, including Allentown Regional High School (ARHS), is a kindergarten through 12th grade school district comprising of over 3,000 students, and the New Jersey State Police were forced to order the entire school system to be evacuated.

Because the two swatting calls were made back to back between January 15 and January 16, the NJ State Police, the FBI, and the Holmdel Police Department were able to quickly determine that the two calls were related, and began an investigation into linking the information from the Saint John Vianney hoaxer with the Allentown swatter.

Tollis told investigators that he was aware that the Upper Freehold swatting call would take place in advance, and also admitted to participating in the second call as well. Tollis explained to investigators that the Twitter user, a member of the TCOD gaming group, would post online their availability to make swat calls to schools throughout the country, and then other members of the TCOD group would request to take part in the Skype calls by being added to the line.

Further investigation has revealed that Tollis, in conjunction with TCOD, were responsible for making swat calls involving “bomb threats, hostage taking, firearms, and mass murder”, according to the criminal complaint. Tollis was identified by the FBI and admitted to his part in at least six swatting incidents, including the SJV, Upper Freehold School District, and UCONN bomb threats

Tollis stated in his confession that he met members of TCOD online and became involved with the gaming group after ”being bullied”.

To read the official affidavit, go to: https://app.box.com/swattingcalls2014USAOTollis

To read the Patch article on the January bomb threat of Saint John Vianney, and subsequent arrest of a minor student, go to the following pages: http://patch.com/new-jersey/marlboro-coltsneck/police-make-arrest-related-january-bomb-threat-sjv#.VBK9PfmwKfh

http://patch.com/new-jersey/holmdel-hazlet/report-st-john-vianney-evacuated-following-bomb-threat#.VBK9XPmwKfi