A 17-year-old from Lancaster, California was extradited to Florida to face charges for a May 2023 swatting call that sent armed officers to the Masjid Al Hayy Mosque in Sanford, Florida, CNN reports, one of hundreds of such calls the suspect made around the country since 2022 as part of an enterprise where he would be paid up to $75 per incident.

Alan Filion is charged with three felony charges of false reporting and a felony charge of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, along with a felony enhancement of advancing terrorism for the Florida charge.  He’s being investigated for more than 300 calls connected to ads he ran on various platforms advertising “swatting services” for $35 to $75 per call.  His home IP address was connected to multiple accounts that posted such ads as on websites.

His calls reported mass shootings, bomb threats and gas leaks among other emergencies to spark massive responses from law enforcement, targeting high schools, historically Black colleges and universities as well as FBI agents’ homes among other places.  Investigators were able to connect a number of calls made in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Washington state to a specific account on Telegram, where original audio files of the calls were posted.

That account, also connected to Filian, once posted, “I swatted myself. How would I know my methods work otherwise. Swatting my neighbor means I’m in suspicion. But nobody would ever dare swat himself, right.”