Now that I've been sentenced, and everyone seems to have an idea on the case, I'll make a post here to clear some things up.
First of all, as everyone probably knows, I've never had any part in "swatting;" that's just obvious enough to anybody who knows me. The reason I did something this stupid was because I was naive enough to believe Matthew when he told me that this Verizon fraud investigator was responsible for blocking access to toll-free (WATS) numbers through the local operators on Verizon's network.
One morning I went to place an operator assisted call and the operators were unable to do so, getting an error at every attempt. Very peculiar was the fact that this was only restricted to the
local calling area (not even the whole 128 LATA!) where Matthew and I lived, which made it beyond coincidence to conclude that Verizon directed this at Matt's fraudulent and/or harassing activities. Naturally this upset me greatly since I op-diverted calls for my own privacy and safety against the "swatter types" out there, among other important reasons obvious to the like-minded individuals here. If Verizon was concerned with Matthew, they should have dealt with the issue without preventing operator assisted calls from being completed, a necessity to both average and handicapped telephone users everywhere. I tried dealing with this by placing a trouble report, but nothing came of it like I expected, especially considering there was no order/ticket number used when implementing this restriction, even though it's required by Verizon policy. To be more technically specific, NPAs 800, 888, 877, 866 and 999 (don't ask) were restricted from the translations when going over operator trunks.
So when things seem hopeless, what do I end up doing? I drive to this guy's house to see if he'll be willing to talk about the issue - yeah I know how stupid this sounds. I don't want to get too in depth on all the facts and my opinions right now, but I will say that what the media claims is incorrect (how shocking!). That is to say that I did not harm or retaliate, or attempt to harm or retaliate (against) the Verizon employee when I showed up that day, or anything of that nature. I wanted to explain the situation, which I calmly did, and see if he was willing to talk about it and possibly come to a conclusion of some sort to fix the
operator issue. I realize at this point that Matthew probably had other reasons/intentions that he kept to himself, but keep in mind that he's
blind. While I only wanted to talk about the operator restrictions, he may have wanted to talk about other unrelated things. Anyway the cops were called and everything's pretty much known from there. I'll also say this: I did not try to intimidate/persuade this man into allowing any swatting activity of any kind, as some articles seem to hint at.
As real as this unjust network restriction was, I no longer think that this specific fraud investigator implemented the restriction, at least on his own. Regardless, it was obviously inappropriate for me to show up at his home that day, and I gave him my sincere apology at sentencing. Without stating further opinion(s) right now, I'm going to note that I was charged with Obstruction of Justice through Witness Tampering and aiding and abetting [18 U.S.C. §1512(b)(3) and §2], and Conspiring to Obstruct Justice, [18 U.S.C. §1512(k)]. You're all able to develop your own opinions from there. Here's the portion of the statutes that relate to my charges:
* United States Code
o TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
+ PART I - CRIMES
# CHAPTER 73 - OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Section 1512. Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant
(b) Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly
persuades another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in
misleading conduct toward another person, with intent to -
(3) hinder, delay, or prevent the communication to a law
enforcement officer or judge of the United States of information
relating to the commission or possible commission of a Federal
offense or a violation of conditions of probation, supervised
release, parole, or release pending judicial proceedings,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20
years, or both.
(k) Whoever conspires to commit any offense under this section
shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the
offense the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
Section 2. Principals
(a) Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal.
(b) Whoever willfully causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him or another would be an offense against the United States, is punishable as a principal.
The fraud investigator I went to see ended up being a witness in the "swatting investigation." Based on the above, obstructing justice through witness tampering requires you to know the person is a witness, know that you are intimidating, corruptly persuading, threatening, or harming the witness, and have the intent to hinder, delay, or prevent the witness from communication with law enforcement and/or a judge (i.e., testimony). This basically alleged that I wanted to interfere with the federal investigation(s) of the swatting and other such activity; something that I've never had any part in and always openly expressed my concern, opposition, and utter disgust with. I do regret what I did regardless of actual legality. The same goes for ever having gotten back in contact with Matthew. And I think that's enough said right now. Hopefully that clears things up to some extent.
EDIT: This quote below is an unacceptable, non-factual false accusation that stands as an example of how badly the media and Department of Justice can be trusted to accurately inform the public. It is a known and legally documented
fact that I never condoned, aided, abetted, or engaged in
any swatting activities of any kind. It is absolutely disgusting how common this occurs everyday with highly sensitive (dis)information.
Most of the members in the group have already been sentenced, and Weigman was given the longest sentence. He was arrested in May 2008, shortly after showing up at the home of a Verizon investigator who had been building a case against Weigman and the other swatters. Weigman, his brother, and another swatter named Sean Benton drove nearly 70 miles to the investigator's house in order to "intimidate and frighten him," the U.S. Department of Justice [DoJ] said in a statement Monday.
