19-Year Old Arrested For Cyberharassment
Brandon Wilson
Online, he uses the handle “Famed God.” Brandon Wilson now has fame, but not in the manner he wanted. Thursday, Wilson was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is now behind bars in Nevada waiting extradition to Illinois. In July, Wilson allegedly reported a murder to Naperville’s emergency 911 line. The SWAT team responded and found that the call was a false report. Illinois prosecutors said there is evidence on Wilson’s computers that the July 10, 2014 “swatting” hoax was not the only time that Wilson made false police reports.
“Swatting” is the new form of internet harassment which involves falsely reporting a dangerous situation to send the police to another person’s home. The false report can lead to deployment of a SWAT team.
Wilson is also said to have hacked the gaming consoles of two others and threatened to put someone “in debt for life” by accessing banking information. Illinois prosecutors said charges Wilson faces include two counts of computer tampering, one count of intimidation, computer fraud, identity theft and disorderly conduct. If convicted, Wilson faces up to 5 years in prison.
Calling it a “dangerous prank,” State’s Attorney James Glasgow plans to craft legislation that would make swatting a felony in Illinois. The bill would also require anyone convicted of swatting to reimburse municipalities for the cost of the emergency response. Sending out a SWAT team can cost taxpayers $10,0000.
Illinois is getting very serious about cyber-harassment. You might remember that we reported here that a jury awarded a victim $50,000 after a man in New York made a false police report about a resident of Illinois. Attorneys took serious notice of that case because it established that harassers using the internet who reside in other jurisdictions, will have to defend themselves in the jurisdiction where the victim lives.
The effort to stop this type of harassment is international. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom and United States worked together to identity Jordan Lee-Bevana, a teen in the UK who impersonated being a Black Chicago gang member and made phony calls to the police in the US of fake hostage situations or bomb threats in schools or universities that prompted police raids. There is consideration underway of charging those who make such false police reports with attempted murder.
Posted on 02/09/2015, in Cyber Abuse and tagged Brandon Wilson, bullying, cyberharassment, Illinois, Jordan Lee-Bevana, swatting. Bookmark the permalink. 21 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
Someone needs to explain to these people that there is no such thing as being truly anonymous while on-line. I am SO glad law enforcement is taking this harassment seriously and will hopefully make examples of those who do this before someone is killed.
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Good morning Mindyme! You are correct. They also underestimate their victims and law enforcement.
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A huge mistake they make when they do that, underestimate their victims! Those who are doing this to others, as we comment on this story, need to wise up!!
Good Morning!
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Mindyme,
Absolutely! People who think that online harassment is a game really need to wake up. Almost daily, I’m learning more and more on how state and federal law enforcement handle online crimes.
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False police reports have become the norm for Cyber harassers
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Yes, and involving law enforcement in crimes of harassment is stepping into dangerous territory.
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Subpoenas for the false reports were issued 🙂 hope your having a good week I know its been busy. im trying to tie things down so I can enjoy my 8th anniversary with my wife
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Reblogged this on scrodriguez.
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Sooooooooooooooo……….I have this fabulous idea on how Fogen can be, well……
messed with”
“There’s a suspicious guy over here, and he’s wearing like a Kel-Tech shirt……and a baseball hat and he’s a white dude……………….sumpin’s wrong with him. Now he’s just lookin’ at me.
I don’t know what his deal is……….”
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Now, now Racer. We know that two wrongs don’t make a right. Now that you mention it, I wonder if GZ wears those T-shirts as a form of intimidation because as we know, he claims being afraid of leaving the house.
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Yeah, I know……..I can dream though.
The Kel-Tech shirt…….I’m sure he has an agenda on that.
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Racer, yeah — that Kel-Tech shirt, and I think he also has some type of Kel-Tech sticker on his license plates or bumper. That is not simply advertising a gun manufacturer — I think he has another agenda.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Good afternoon Jueseppi! Thanks for the reblog, dear friend.
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They’ve gotten rather treacherous in their scheme of things now. Just think how simple phone pranks were back in the day. Dial a number, ask if their fridge is running, tell them they better go catch it. Hang up, laugh with your friends then do another number or go to something else.
If I could get a way with Racer’s idea………….Lol
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Hey Peni! Yep — those were kid pranks that caused no actual harm. What is happening today with adults, and because it involves others to do their dirty work for them, they intend to do harm and avoid consequences. I agree with the State’s Attorney — it needs to be a felony.
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What will these crazies think of next? Too bad they can’t put their “creative” energies to good instead of bad.
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Sunshinebright, I agree. At the age of 19, he’s looking at 5 years in prison in a state where he does not live, all because he wanted to harm someone he does not personally know. It would not surprise me one bit if law enforcement does not start online activity and the moment a perpetrator doxes or pulls a prank, they will be looking at federal charges.
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Something has to be done, a stronger message needs to be sent. Some folks have been getting away with this shoddy behavior for so long, they may be complacent and not even worried about getting caught, much less the consequences
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My 8yo son loves watching prank videos on youtube and he’s dying to make prank phone calls. when he mentioned if he could do it on April’s fools day I told he that prank calls are illegal in the US & the ones he’s watching are in other countries, like England for example. I also used to tell him almost anything I didn’t want him to do was illegal! LMAO
but apparently he pays attention when he sees me watching news about Mike Brown or bitching to the TV or other ppl about kids getting shot by police. so I guess that’s why he asked one day, I guess contemplating the risks, he asked if the police would arrest him, beat him up or shoot him if he made a prank call.
I said that we could never really tell what they’d do, some cops don’t do the right thing and its best not to even try. which is the truth. even an 8yo making harmless stupid prank calls isn’t safe.
I gotta rethink my strategy.
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Shannon, there’s nothing wrong with your strategy, IMHO.
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