Gamer Sent To Prison For School Swattings

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A year in prison, three years of supervised release and three hundred hours of community service seems like it could be a deterrent. What do you guys think of this guy's punishment?

A 22-year-old Connecticut man who took part in bomb threats made against two Monmouth County schools last year was Tuesday sentenced to a year in prison. The prison term for Matthew Tollis takes into account his role in the New Jersey "swatting" incidents as well as similar threats in Texas, Massachusetts and his home state, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Connecticut said in a news release.
 
I'm pretty well known for stating when I feel the punishment is in excess of the crime, so it should say something when I say "The little fucker got off light as far as I'm concerned". Frankly in this instance people could of gotten killed and who knows how many actual emergencies may have been held off because this little ++++ thought it would be funny to "Swat". I'm honestly surprised they didn't manage to stick him with attempted homicide and pop him for at least 10 years.
 
Yeah, that seems like a pretty light sentence.

This wasn't some kid. A 22 year old man should know better. Whenever you do something like this, and Swat teams have to charge in with guns drawn, there is always a risk of someone getting killed.

A 1 year sentence seems ridiculously light. 5-10 would have seemed more appropriate.
 
I would have given him more than 1 year, definitely.

I just served on a jury (no, i did not weasel my way out of it), and chances are high that there was probably 1-3 jurors who simply didn't get the gravity of the situation and the probability of someone getting popped....and therefore stonewalled everyone else who did see and understand the gravity of the situation. Jury decisions are required unanimous, so it only takes 1 juror to say 'nope nope nope' and it all goes to hell.
 
One year seems like a suitable punishment for his first conviction. Now if he does it again, now that he knows the repercussions, then he can't be rehabilitated and yeah, throw the book at him.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041899064 said:
Yeah, that seems like a pretty light sentence.

This wasn't some kid. A 22 year old man should know better. Whenever you do something like this, and Swat teams have to charge in with guns drawn, there is always a risk of someone getting killed.

A 1 year sentence seems ridiculously light. 5-10 would have seemed more appropriate.
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You get 5-10 in my state if you just walkup to a random car with a shot gun and give the guy a double tap and just walk off. Not premeditated and not a robbery.

A year in prison for wasting the officers time seems like an ok sentence by comparison. If it was "dangerous" thats because the officers are capping unarmed bystanders. And if its "they could have prevented a murder somewhere else while raiding" then the station is dangerously understaffed.

Seems murder 1 punishment is the min around here for any offence that is news worthy.
 
I'm wondering if this is a felony or not. If it is a felony, things are going to be a lot tougher when he gets out of prison. It 's going to follow him everywhere.
 
1 year may seem light, but he pled guilty on Federal charges. That's going to follow him for the rest of his life wherever he goes. Good luck getting a job, into college, getting a loan or finding a place to live. That punishment will far exceed any shower pounding he's going to get in prison.
 
It sounds like an adequate punishment to me. This will never leave his side, and the community service and supervised release may make him think a little more about being so stupid and wasting so many resources.
 
nightanole said:
You get 5-10 in my state if you just walkup to a random car with a shot gun and give the guy a double tap and just walk off. Not premeditated and not a robbery.
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I was going to say thay 5-10 seemed awfully light for what amounts to second or first degree murder (depending on your states requirement for premeditation for first degree charges) but I looked it up here and the differences in sentencing guidelines from state to state are really surprising...
 
Another vote for he got off light.

I consider the Swatting calls the more serious. A bomb threat usually results in a relative calm response. Evacuation of the threatened structure followed by a sweep by bomb squad and dogs. A Swatting call results in a far more energetic response by law enforcement, putting innocents at real risk. Many things that folks might be carrying or doing could look life threatening to some LEO responding to an active shooter call.

Guessing he made a deal in return for information.
 
At least this does appear to still be a felony so even though his sentence is light, he is now a convicted felon and has all the lifetime baggage that goes with that ... I agree he should have gotten more jail time though ... will be interesting to see if the UK just gives a slap on the wrist to the other members who did this
 
IMO, his actions showed such a disregard for others lives and safety that it should be a capital offense. Throw him off a building from 20 floors up and let gravity sort it out.
 
I would be OK with the sentence if he was forced to reimburse the cost of each responding unit. Otherwise, I feel he got off light.
 
I hope someone "swats" him in prison by spreading rumors that he's a sexual predator :)
 
nightanole said:
If it was "dangerous" thats because the officers are capping unarmed bystanders. And if its "they could have prevented a murder somewhere else while raiding" then the station is dangerously understaffed.
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As anyone who has ever flinched in a FPS and shot a teammate as they round a corner knows, whenever there are officers, or anyone else for that matter, with fingers on the trigger, thinking there is an active shooter, nervous and not knowing who or what are around the next corner, with a fraction of a second to decide if someone is a threat or not, there is a risk of loss of life.

And there are very few police departments outside of major cities that cn sustain two swat responses at the same time.

You resource a department for the threats the community is likely to see...
 
With all the real shootings lately this kind of behavior is unacceptable. He should be punished severely. 3 years in prison seems appropriate along with community service. Make an example out of him.
 
"A year in prison, three years of supervised release and three hundred hours of community service "

That's a pretty harsh sentence.
 
BillNutz said:
I hope someone "swats" him in prison by spreading rumors that he's a sexual predator :)
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Swatter: "What're you in for?"
Cellmate: "I killed 6 people and fed their remains to pigs....you?"
Swatter: "I called the police"

Yea...I somehow imagine that sexual predators get off light compared to swatter idiots.
 
twonunpackmule said:
"A year in prison, three years of supervised release and three hundred hours of community service "

That's a pretty harsh sentence.
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These cases should be tried as attempted murder. A year in fed. pen is nothing.
 
It really goes to show you just how disconnected some of these gamers are with reality. Sitting at home all day taking smack and playing online, completely obvious to real world consequences.

He got off light but thankfully he'll have the felony hanging over his head for life.
 
Just hope he makes Friends with a big burley man named John who hasn't seen his gal since 1979. He's been real lonely since then....
 
I never understood people who think that the police should treat swattings as anything but a joke. The police can't treat it as a boy-who-cried-wolf, because what about the real situations?

What this guy did was beyond just a hoax and should be treated harshly. He did get off light.
 
I think the death penalty wouldn't be harsh enough.

My wife always reminds me that some crimes like robbery are hard to judge because if it's 3 people, maybe 1 of the 3 people got "caught up" with some bad people. I don't totally buy it but fine.

When someone is choosing to SWAT other people, he's not "caught up" or being "coerced" into doing it. He's doing it purely out of malice and a willful intent to do harm. Let's just execute a few of these people and THAT would deter people in the future. If it doesn't? Well let's just keep getting rid of them. If they can't act civilized, they shouldn't be part of civilization.
 
Um.......

Where the fuck is the "Gamer" in this news article?

All I see is "Man swats two schools"

So what, if somebody plays WoW and they commit a bank robbery, its "Gamer robs bank?"

Some F- reporting going on here.
 
Why do the need to specify gamer? They don't even talk about gaming in the article. Chubby funster would have been a better fit.
 
ShamisOMally said:
Um.......

Where the fuck is the "Gamer" in this news article?

All I see is "Man swats two schools"

So what, if somebody plays WoW and they commit a bank robbery, its "Gamer robs bank?"

Some F- reporting going on here.
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It's a well-known fact that ONLY people who play video games online do the swatting thing.
 
rabidz7 said:
These cases should be tried as attempted murder. A year in fed. pen is nothing.
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Umm, have you ever been to prison? Also, he's going to be basically under house arrest for three years. That's the "translation" of supervised release. Then, on top of that he has 300 hours of community service.

That's a pretty harsh sentence. Especially, since they probably weighed it based on the particular person and the facts. The things we aren't privy too. He's a 22 year old kid. He's a kid. He's capable of making stupid mistakes. The sentence matches a mistake...not willful intent.
 
twonunpackmule said:
Umm, have you ever been to prison? Also, he's going to be basically under house arrest for three years. That's the "translation" of supervised release. Then, on top of that he has 300 hours of community service.

That's a pretty harsh sentence. Especially, since they probably weighed it based on the particular person and the facts. The things we aren't privy too. He's a 22 year old kid. He's a kid. He's capable of making stupid mistakes. The sentence matches a mistake...not willful intent.
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If you don't know the difference between right and wrong at 22, you're never going to get it. 22 is not a kid.
 
Chronologic age ≠ maturity, intellectual, ethical or otherwise. Didn't you see the 40yo living at home streaming Minecraft that almost burned his house to the ground?
 
kirbyrj said:
If you don't know the difference between right and wrong at 22, you're never going to get it. 22 is not a kid.
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There's actually a lot of medically supported evidence that shows the prefrontal cortex (that's the part that's responsible for planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior) isn't fully developed in males until like 25-27 years old. So yeah, like guys don't get it and are impulsive children until they're getting close to 30 when they're already pretty firmly into geezer-land. In women, it develops a lot sooner and some studies show that it's typically more well developed and active throughout life. So a court really might be better off treating a 22 year old male like a juvenile offender since that's basically the sort of mind they're dealing with pretty much across the board at that age.
 
kirbyrj said:
If you don't know the difference between right and wrong at 22, you're never going to get it. 22 is not a kid.
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It's not about knowing "right and wrong" it's about making mistakes. You can understand these things...but still be an idiot and make mistakes. The idea that prison should bury someone is not the right way of doing things. It's about paying back on a mistake and growing from it.

His sentence allows him a chance to come back. These actions shouldn't ruin the rest of his life.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
There's actually a lot of medically supported evidence that shows the prefrontal cortex (that's the part that's responsible for planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior) isn't fully developed in males until like 25-27 years old. So yeah, like guys don't get it and are impulsive children until they're getting close to 30 when they're already pretty firmly into geezer-land. In women, it develops a lot sooner and some studies show that it's typically more well developed and active throughout life. So a court really might be better off treating a 22 year old male like a juvenile offender since that's basically the sort of mind they're dealing with pretty much across the board at that age.
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Bad example, as the prefrontal cortex is vastly different in men vs women, and functions differently

For example if you were using "Brain size" at a metric, men are far more creative because their right prefrontal cortex in comparison to the left side is massive.

And don't think the "It stops growing" has anything to do with maturity, I've seen plenty of 25+ year old women constantly bombed out of their heads partying.

Take this as it is, this man was a prick, and he got caught doing so.
 
Yikes, this guy is from the town I live in... First I've heard of this. Sad people stoop to such stupidity.
 
The problem with swatting is the asinine and ridiculous responses of the police. How about scouting out a situation before you go in guns blazing like a bunch of overdosed roid ragers.
 
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