Couple Swarmed by SWAT Team After 911 'Hack'

Couple Swarmed by SWAT Team After 911 'Hack'

news.yahoo.com

A Washington State teenager is facing 18 years in prison on charges that he used his PC to access Orange County, California's 911 emergency response system and convinced the sheriff's department into storming an area couple's home with a heavily armed SWAT team.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This young man used his computer to make a crank call to the cops, and after 38 minutes he convinced them he had killed someone, and was about to kill again. This caused the SWAT team to be deployed to an innocent person's house, who thought they were prowlers. This incident could have ended up a lot worse, thankfully no one was hurt or killed during this stupid stunt.

The teen is facing charges of unauthorized computer access, and assault by proxy and could spend 18 years in prison.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Eighteen years in jail is an over kill, but to have him pay for the expenses of having the city going into high alert should be better punishment, because the bill will be forwarded to the tax payers on the city, while he in jail will cost also money to tax payers.

Lord above! What possesses these people?! When they found out his address they should have given him the SWAT treatment and see how he liked it, especially when he has nearly 200 fake emergency calls to his credit!

reply to post by Muppetus Galacticus


I really don't know what could have been going through his head. I guess after 200 crank calls, your material needs to be bigger and better to get the thrill.

What ever happened to "Hello? Is your refrigerator running?"

A) thats a pretty gnarly prank...thats going all the way
2) 18 years is a tad steep i'm thinking

This person obviously just doesn't get it. May be he should have to help pick up road kill and ride with the coroner. What's with using computers to hassle people and do crimes that seem to be OK or at least a minimal crime to some people. And talk about POing the police. What was this guy thinking.

I guess it's just that in general people and how they handle themselves and send their time in life is going downhill.

reply to post by marg6043


This is not simply about the monetary, emotional damages etc… It's about setting a precedent that such dangerous criminal acts will not be tolerated, at all, considering he is a multiple case offender, he is getting it easy. Innocent people could have died, just because they didn't no way diminishes the seriousness of the original offense.

Hail hitler lets gas him in the ovens at the concentration camps. . . wait we are a democracy right? so hey lets take his habeas corpus, tag him an enemy combatant or better a terrorist and send him to Guantanamo.

Westpoint, I am a bit tap older and I see things different, I will stand with him paying his due to society and the tax payer. if he is in jail we get stuck with the bill.

This is a good excuse for public flogging! A slap on the wrist will only invite others to attempt the same thing knowing a slap on the wrist is all they will get.

Originally posted by marg6043
Hail hitler lets gas him in the ovens at the concentration camps. . . wait we are a democracy right? so hey lets take his habeas corpus, tag him an enemy combatant or better a terrorist and send him to Guantanamo.

You know marge I respect you opinion but sometimes you sound like a broken record always repeating the same things.

Not everything is about the police state.

This is obviously a deeply disturbed individual who cares nothing for other people.

What if the innocent people in the house were armed with a gun instead of a knife and started a shootout with the swat team they thought were burglars?

People would of ended up killed over this stupid kid's prank.

Life is not a video game.
You don't mess with the 911 system.
Period.

Give him a fair trial and punish him with whatever the law allows and if I was his father he would get a beating the likes of which even the catholic church has never seen.

What should worry you're sensibilities about a police state and the justice system is this little phrase in the story:

...he's also facing assault charges by proxy, meaning that authorities want Ellis to be convicted as if he, and not the SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team, pointed weapons at the victims.

That's a new one to me and could be a bad precedent to set for any future swat team "mistakes" to be blamed on some informant or innocent victim.
.

Originally posted by marg6043
...so hey lets take his habeas corpus...

Why would you want to do that, just increase the punishment for essentially attempting murder via a proxy, all the worst in this case considering the proxy were the police.

Originally posted by marg6043
I will stand with him paying his due to society and the tax payer.

if he is in jail we get stuck with the bill.

I'm sorry; surly you don't mean that a simple fine is al that's required? We have a prison system and indeed a criminal system for justice, security, rehabilitation and determent. Money is irrelevant in the face of security, I could care less how much jail is costing concerning the alternative, my life is not for sale, is yours?

[edit on 18-10-2007 by WestPoint23]

Originally posted by Gools

You know marge I respect you opinion but sometimes you sound like a broken record always repeating the same things.

Better to sound like a broken record than giving up to what our nations is becoming.

Not everything is about the police state.

That is the problem in our nation every act done by insane or disturbed individuals will reap repercussions for those that are not considered insane or disturbed.

I still stand by my first post he should be deal with the amount of tax payer money that were waisted on his prank.

Now a days it doesn't matter if you are Innocent or not you still are going to die if the police will brake your door and you open fire on them in self defense.

It is happening already.

BTW if I sound like old record well sorry if I hurt you sensitive feelings.

Westpoint the boy did a prank and the fools felt for it.

The guys a bit of an asshat for pulling a stunt like that, but I can't say that the though of it doesn't make a very juvenile part of myself giggle.

This teen pretty much ended his life. After leaving jail, the courts will require that he no longer can have access to a computer, and this is also going on his permanent criminal record, so if he gets a job (assuming someone hires him), he will be forced to do manual labor.

Now look at everything that we can consider a computer or containing one: calculators, cell phones/PDA, mp3 players, cash registers, dvd players/recorders, video game systems, and some of the more advanced cars. After jail, he will be forced to live without things most of us can't live without.

[edit on 19-10-2007 by DJMessiah]

reply to post by DJMessiah


I, like many others I'm sure used to make a few prank calls back in the day, but even as a youngster I knew never to mess with the 911 system or an other emergency calls. If as a young person you are not aware of such things, you need to be taught a lesson IMO. This kid was well aware of what he was doing.

I think there is a consensus that this was a grossly inappropriate and potentially dangerous act.

However, I don't think 18 years jail time for a teenager is applicable here. For starters, murders (people who actually intended to, and succeeded in killing some one) can get less jail time than that. This teenager should not get off lightly for his acts but to destroy his life for what is essentially a very ill-conceived prank is blowing things way out of proportion.

And for those who think locking him away for 18 years will some how set a deterent; do you know what the recidivist rates are for jailed individuals? Do you actually believe that some one with the obvious mental deficiencies to prank call an emergency service line would have a reasoned and rational thought about his actions versus a possible 18 years jail time? Colour me sceptical on that one.

What this individual needs is some serious positive guidance in his life, because he surely is lacking it. He should be given the opportunity to make amends to this couple, the police department and his community. That would not be possible via jail time. Give the restorative justice approach a go in this case, it's a prime candidate as I've ever seen for such an approach.

I usually agree with ya marg, but I can't say I do this time.

Originally posted by marg6043
Westpoint the boy did a prank and the fools felt for it.

Imagine this; a swat team breaks down your front door, and then procedes to slam you, and your family, to the floor. Would you be upset... maybe enough for them to "taze" you in order to get you under control?

If I remember correctly, your husband has military experience. If he was in the other room, and heard the commotion, might he retrieve one of his guns to try and protect you (putting himself at severe risk)?

While you're laying on the floor, surrounded by bits of broken doorframe, with a knee on the back of your neck, and a gun to your head; would you still feel it was all "just a prank"?

I know I wouldn't... :shk:

This kid was playing with fire, and he put innocent lives at severe risk. I don't feel that a mere monitary fine is gonna cut it in this case.

[edit on 10/19/07 by redmage]

Originally posted by redmage
Imagine this; a swat team breaks down your front door, and then procedes to slam you, and your family, to the floor. Would you be upset...

Thankfully that is why the victims of crime do not partake in the criminal justice system by degree of their emotional beliefs. Emotions are irrelevant to the way the Western justice system currently operates.

At the end of the day he cannot be punished for something that *may have happened*. The law requires punishable acts to have been committed, not that they could or may have happened. He is guilty of a lot of things but potentially causing the deaths of that couple is hardly basis for 18 years jail.

With that logic you should jail speeding motorists for 18 years because they potentially could have killed other motorists. I'm sure that example should clarify the subject some what. Think about that next time you're over the speed limit, even by a fraction.

[edit on 19/10/07 by subz]

Originally posted by subz
At the end of the day he cannot be punished for something that *may have happened*.

I never said he should be punished for what *may have happened*. I feel he should be punished for what he did; and what he did was severe.

Of course there's no way he'll actually serve 18 years, but he should definitely see some time behind bars.

Originally posted by subz
With that logic you should jail speeding motorists for 18 years because they potentially could have killed other motorists.

Rediculous. That's like me claiming "With your logic, we should eliminate the penalties for driving while intoxicated because we shouldn't punish those who *might* kill someone."

Also, we're not dealing with a "first time offender" here. The kid had spoofed emergency calls nearly 200 times!

How many times, in your state, does it take for a drunk driver to lose his/her license and finally serve some jail time?

Originally posted by subz
The law requires punishable acts to have been committed, not that they could or may have happened.

So are you saying he committed no punishable acts?

Originally posted by subz
I'm sure that example should clarify the subject some what. Think about that next time you're over the speed limit, even by a fraction.

It's nice to see that you equate "hacking" emergency response, having S.W.A.T. teams dispatched, and terrorizing an innocent family, with "speeding by a fraction".

[edit on 10/19/07 by redmage]