In October 2021, a high school in El Paso County began receiving calls from an unknown male suspect alleging he would carry out potential threats to the school. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO) immediately began an investigation and determined that the threats were unfounded. However, during their investigation, EPSO learned the suspect was also linked to multiple swatting calls for service in different jurisdictions throughout the entire United States, including some in El Paso County. The swatting calls made to these various law enforcement agencies ranged from bomb and active shooter threats to fake disturbance calls.
During EPSO’s investigation, it was also learned that in addition to the swatting calls, the suspect also attempted to extort multiple juvenile females for sexually explicit images and videos. At this point in the investigation, the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICAC) – which is headed by the Colorado Springs Police Department and comprised of detectives from EPSO and special agents with the Homeland Security Investigations – took over the investigation into the attempted extortion and swatting.
As part of the investigation, ICAC learned the suspect’s identity and that his whereabouts were in Arvada, Colorado. On February 10, 2022, ICAC, with the assistance of the Arvada Police Department, executed a search warrant and took the suspect into custody for the following charges:
- §18-8-110, False Report of Explosives, Weapons, or Harmful Substances, Class Six Felony (F6)
- §18-9-109 (6) (B), Interference with Staff, Faculty, or Students of Educational Institutions, Class One Misdemeanor (M1)
- §18-8-111 (2) (A), False Reporting to Authorities-False Reporting of Emergency, Class One Misdemeanor (M1)
Another individual, a juvenile, was also arrested for their involvement in the case on March 2, 2022. She was taken into custody on the following charges:
- 18-8-110 False Report of Explosives, Weapons or Harmful Substances (Conspiracy to Commit) F6
- 18-8-110 False Report of Explosives, Weapons or Harmful Substances (Accessory to Crime) F6
Because the suspect is a juvenile, we will not be releasing any personal identifying information. Additionally, we will not release information on the attempted extortion as the victims were juveniles as well.
This is still an on-going investigation.
We want to thank our partners at EPSO and the Arvada Police Department for their work on these investigations that ultimately led to this arrest.
About ICAC
The Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), is a group of local and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as prosecutors located in and around the state of Colorado who are trained and dedicated to protecting children online by investigating and prosecuting crimes committed against children, facilitated by the internet, technology, and computer usage. Colorado ICAC is a member of the National ICAC Task Force.
The CPSD has been the ICAC Task Force Lead Agency for more than 20 years and is responsible for performing initial investigations on Cyber tips assigned to the State of Colorado that are received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The Colorado ICAC Task Force is made up of detectives with the Colorado Springs Police Department, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, and Special Agents with Homeland Security Investigations.
If you suspect a child is being sexually exploited online, you can report it online or by calling 1-800-THE-LOST.