17-year-old blind swatter known as "Li'l Hacker" Targeted by the FBI

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,777
3
81
http://www.wired.com/politics/...s/2008/02/blind_hacker


At 4 in the morning of May 1, 2005, deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office converged on the suburban Colorado Springs home of Richard Gasper, a TSA screener at the local Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. They were expecting to find a desperate, suicidal gunman holding Gasper and his daughter hostage.

"I will shoot," the gravely voice had warned, in a phone call to police minutes earlier. "I'm not afraid. I will shoot, and then I will kill myself, because I don't care."

"I will shoot." Listen to the Colorado Springs hostage hoax.

But instead of a gunman, it was Gasper himself who stepped into the glare of police floodlights. Deputies ordered Gasper's hands up and held him for 90 minutes while searching the house. They found no armed intruder, no hostages bound in duct tape. Just Gasper's 18-year-old daughter and his baffled parents.

A federal Joint Terrorism Task Force would later conclude that Gasper had been the victim of a new type of nasty hoax, called "swatting," that was spreading across the United States. Pranksters were phoning police with fake murders and hostage crises, spoofing their caller IDs so the calls appear to be coming from inside the target's home. The result: police SWAT teams rolling to the scene, sometimes bursting into homes, guns drawn.

Now the FBI thinks it has identified the culprit in the Colorado swatting as a 17-year-old East Boston phone phreak known as "Li'l Hacker." Because he's underage, Wired.com is not reporting Li'l Hacker's last name. His first name is Matthew, and he poses a unique challenge to the federal justice system, because he is blind from birth....
 

tasmanian

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2006
3,813
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Lol i remember reading about one of those a while ago. Swat team busted in a mans house when there was actually nothing going on.
 

ric1287

Diamond Member
Nov 29, 2005
4,845
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are we supposed to feel sympathy for the jackass that prank called? If so, i don't understand why.
 

Xylitol

Diamond Member
Aug 28, 2005
6,617
0
76
Just because he's blind and underagedwe're going to go easy on him? Pranksters like him should be tried as adults and be sent straight to jail

We should make sure that some hairy men in prison get fresh meat, and he won't even SEE IT COMING!
 

Dimmu

Senior member
Jun 24, 2005
890
0
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Originally posted by: Xylitol
Just because he's blind and underagedwe're going to go easy on him? Pranksters like him should be tried as adults and be sent straight to jail

We should make sure that some hairy men in prison get fresh meat, and he won't even SEE IT COMING!

Haha. Aye, having that form of disability, or another similar one, should not be a reason for a reduced or nonexistent punishment, especially in a situation like this. Unacceptable.
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,019
216
106
implant some eyeballs...







in his buttocks, so he can see it up close when he gets gang raped in the prison showers!
 

aplefka

Lifer
Feb 29, 2004
12,016
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I remember reading about a similar one to this that happened a while back. If I'm not mistaken, the husband and wife who lived there heard something outside so he got out his gun and it almost got really bad until luckily they got it figured out.

Where do parents go wrong that people turn out like this?
 

Bibble

Golden Member
Feb 20, 2006
1,293
1
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I want to know what he does with his one phone call when he is arrested.

Very interesting article. Unfortunately, it does seem the guy is addicted, and will continue pulling pranks after he turns 18, at which point the FBI will pick him up. I feel somewhat bad, but he must know what he is doing is wrong, and therefore deserves punishment.
 

Q

Lifer
Jul 21, 2005
12,059
4
81
Wait, what is he doing? Making prank phone calls basically?
 

mundane

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2002
5,603
8
81
Originally posted by: Quintox
Wait, what is he doing? Making prank phone calls basically?

Prank phone calls to 911, which are intended to result in SWAT teams being sent out to target unsuspecting people.
 

Q

Lifer
Jul 21, 2005
12,059
4
81
Originally posted by: mundane
Originally posted by: Quintox
Wait, what is he doing? Making prank phone calls basically?

Prank phone calls to 911, which are intended to result in SWAT teams being sent out to target unsuspecting people.

That what I got of it from reading fast, just wanted to check. I was confused b/c I usually associated hacker with computers.
 

mundane

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2002
5,603
8
81
Originally posted by: Quintox
Originally posted by: mundane
Originally posted by: Quintox
Wait, what is he doing? Making prank phone calls basically?

Prank phone calls to 911, which are intended to result in SWAT teams being sent out to target unsuspecting people.

That what I got of it from reading fast, just wanted to check. I was confused b/c I usually associated hacker with computers.

From what I gather, the 'original' hackers targeted telephone systems, and I think using the term in this case is an extension of that definition.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,076
136
Originally posted by: Quintox
Wait, what is he doing? Making prank phone calls basically?

A little bit more complicated but that's the basics. People are calling 911 dispatch centers and fooling the dispatchers (and their equippment) into believing the calls are coming from elsewhere. I recall the other case where I minor was found doing this. I'd like to know what ever came of it. Bottom line, 17 is old enough to know that this is just wrong. Last I heard the previous assailant was getting charged with quite a few crimes; I hope this case follows suit. Bring on the assault by proxy!
 

Modular

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2005
5,027
67
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17 is old enough to be tried as an adult. They'll just have to file a motion to try him as such. It's been done before and would certainly apply in this case as well.