Fantasy Football Gone Wrong: US Man Pleads Guilty to International Mass-Shooting Threat

Fact is truly weirder than “fantasy,” sometimes.

In a story that isn’t going to help the stereotype that Philadelphia sports are cut from a particularly notorious cloth, an American man has pleaded guilty to falsifying some very serious threats — some across the Atlantic Ocean, no less.

According to CBS News, 25-year-old Philadelphia man Matthew Gabriel pleaded guilty to two counts of “interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure.”

Gabriel sent bomb and mass shooting threats to both Iowa and Norway, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

“According to the guilty plea agreement, the defendant had an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group,” the release said. “Gabriel learned that the member with whom he had a disagreement was going to study abroad in Norway in August of 2023.

“On Aug. 3, 2023, Gabriel, while located in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, submitted an anonymous ‘tip’ through the internet to the Norwegian Police Security Service, also known as Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste (‘PST’), claiming that a member of his fantasy football chat group was going to carry out a mass shooting in Norway.”

Gabriel’s “tip” sparked an enormous waste of resources on a completely fabricated threat.

“Law enforcement in Norway and the United States spent hundreds of man-hours reacting to and investigating the threatened mass shooting over the course of a five-day period,” the release stated.

In March, Gabriel “while located in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sent an email posing as another individual to the University of Iowa with the subject line ‘Possible Threat.’”

That faux threat involved a bomb hoax.

While Gabriel’s actions were obviously illegal in nature, the root cause of the issue is almost as newsworthy as the threats themselves.

Because, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Gabriel’s issues stemmed from an “online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group.”

Yes, fantasy football appeared to be the absurd source of Gabriel’s ire.

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero ripped into Gabriel’s stunt.

“His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations,” Romero said. “Hoax threats aren’t a joke or protected speech, they’re a crime. My advice to keyboard warriors who’d like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit ‘post’ or ‘send.’”

Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia, added, “You do not get to express emotions through violence or threats of violence.”

Gabriel “faces a maximum possible sentence of five years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.”

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