Security News > 2021 > July > Serial Swatter Who Caused Death Gets Five Years in Prison

At one point, Sonderman posted Herring's home address in a Discord chat room used by the group, and a minor in the United Kingdom quickly followed up by directing a swatting attack on Herring's home.

From there, the attackers can reset the password for any online account that allows password resets via SMS. But it wasn't the subsequent bomb threat that Sonderman and friends called in to her home that bothered Dozono most.

Dozono said Sonderman created an account on Grindr - the location-based social networking and dating app for gay, bi, trans and queer people - and set up a rendezvous at her address with an unsuspecting Grindr user who was instructed to waltz into her home as if he was invited.

Judge Mark Norris said Sonderman's agreement to plead to one count of extortion by threat of serious injury or damage carries with it a recommended sentence of 27 to 33 months in prison.

Judge Norris said he was giving Sonderman the maximum sentenced allowed by law under the statute - 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, but implied that his sentence would be far harsher if the law permitted.

Sonderman's sentence pales in comparison to the 20-year prison time handed down in 2019 to serial swatter Tyler Barriss, a California man who admitted making a phony emergency call to police in late 2017 that led to the shooting death of an innocent Kansas resident.

News URL

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/07/serial-swatter-who-caused-death-gets-five-years-in-prison/