On Monday, November 21, 2022, police were dispatched to Intermediate East regarding a potential swatting incident/threat received by the school. Out of an abundance of caution, the area was thoroughly checked and cleared, and the threat was deemed unfounded, prior to students entering the building.
Within 45 minutes of the investigation, Detective Graham Borg and Corporal Jesse Robertazzi of our Cyber Crimes Unit successfully identified the suspect, a 14 year old male, from Edmonton, Canada. The detectives, with the assistance of Officer Scott Fallano, were subsequently able to connect this individual to another swatting call at a residence, received the prior morning by TRPD dispatchers.
Our law enforcement partners in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada arrested and charged the 9th grader in Canada for the two swatting incidents in Toms River.
Swatting is when someone makes a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.