The Swedish Connection: Unraveling America's Swatting Terror

Who could be responsible for a "months-long, nationwide campaign of dozens, and potentially hundreds, of threats"?

A bomb threat was called into a Patti LaBelle concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the same day as a victim of harassment I am investigating. Was there some connection between the two?

On April 13th, VICE News' Joseph Cox revealed a startling exposé, unearthing a nefarious Telegram group that performed swatting services for payment. For those unacquainted with the term, "swatting" refers to the malicious act of placing a fabricated call – often involving a violent crime – to a target's home, with the intent of provoking an armed police response.

Cox's article states that a series of false 9-1-1 calls and bomb threats have been made across the United States, allegedly by this individual or group. The unsettling implication is that, since these criminals operate through Telegram, a messaging platform once based in the Russian Federation but now based seemingly nowhere, they seemingly remain beyond the reach of U.S. authorities.

Telegram, a widely-used messaging app, was introduced in August …