Suspect Pleads Guilty to UConn Swatting Incident

A 22-year-old Wethersfield man has pleaded guilty to participating in a series of swatting incidents including a bomb threat that caused a three-hour lockdown of the UConn campus last year.

Conneticut’s U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced Tuesday that Matthew Tollis of Wethersfield, pleaded guilty in New Haven federal court to participating in a series of “swatting” incidents that occurred in Connecticut and other states in 2014.

“Swatting” is the making of a hoax call to any emergency service to elicit an emergency response based on the false report of an ongoing critical incident. Incidents typically produce the deployment of SWAT units, bomb squads, and other police units, as well as the evacuations of schools, businesses and residences.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Tollis was a member of a group primarily consisting of Microsoft X-Box gamers who referred to themselves as “TCOD” (TeAM CrucifiX or Die). Tollis and his TCOD associates used the Internet communication service Skype to make hoax threats involving bombs, hostage taking, firearms, and mass murder.

Tollis was identified as a participant in at least six of these swatting incidents, including a bomb threat to the UConn’s Admissions Department on April 3, 2014. This hoax call resulted in a three-hour, campus-wide lockdown and required the UConn Police and the Connecticut State Police’s Bomb Squad, Emergency Services Unit and SWAT teams to respond.

Tollis was arrested on Sept. 3, 2014, on state charges stemming from the UConn swatting incident, and he was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Sept. 10, 2014. He is free on a $100,000 bond.

On Tuesday, Tollis waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in the malicious conveying of false information, namely a bomb threat hoax, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall on Sept. 15.