Source: Office of United States Attorneys
PHOENIX, Ariz. – James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 21, of New Mexico, was sentenced last week to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges in two separate indictments relating to hoax calls that elicited police SWAT responses.
With respect to the indictment originating from the District of Arizona, McCarty pleaded guilty on February 1, 2024, to making two hoax calls to high schools in Indiana and Oklahoma using the names of real students at the high schools he called. McCarty also pleaded guilty to two separate crimes of aggravated identity theft since he used the identity of an actual individual during these calls. On January 25, 2021, McCarty made repetitive hoax calls to two different high schools. In the first series of hoax calls to a high school in Indiana, McCarty called school officials representing that he was a student at the school, while using the real name of a student there, and that he was outside the school with an AR-15 rifle, a Glock handgun, and propane bottles ready to shoot at the school. In the second series of hoax calls about 20 minutes later to a high school in Oklahoma, McCarty called school officials representing that he was a student at the school, while using the real name of a student there, and that he was outside of the school with an AR-15 rifle, a Glock handgun, and propane tanks ready to shoot the propane tanks before coming into the school. McCarty also pleaded guilty to two hoax calls he made on April 16, 2021, and May 20, 2021. He used the name of the same homeowner in both calls, stating to police that he had killed his wife, would kill everyone, blow up the residence, and had four bombs planted outside of a retail location. McCarty was a resident of Kayenta and made all his calls while residing there.
With respect to the indictment originating from the Central District of California, McCarty pleaded guilty on February 1, 2024, to conspiracy by working with others to access Ring doorbell accounts. On November 13, 2020, McCarty made an unauthorized intrusion into a victim’s Ring doorbell account in Florida, called the police in that Florida community where the victim lived, and represented himself to be the victim’s husband who had just killed her, was holding a hostage, and had rigged explosives at the residence. McCarty then livestreamed the law enforcement response and posted a message that he thought it was funny. McCarty also made multiple calls to victims in California.
This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Arizona and Los Angeles, California offices. Valuable assistance was provided by South Plainfield (New Jersey) Police Department, Snellville (Georgia) Police Department, Forsyth County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office, Westfield (Indiana) Police Department, Vinita (Oklahoma) Police Department, and Parma (Ohio) Police Department. The United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Phoenix, and the United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, handled the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: CR 22-08133-PHX-SPL (Original District of Arizona Indictment)
CR 24-00122-PHX-SPL (Originally Central District of CA—Rule 20)
RELEASE NUMBER: 2024-082_McCarty
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