Multiple Republican state officials fall victim to 'swatting calls'

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – At least four current or former Republican state lawmakers’ homes were swatted on Tuesday afternoon. 

Swatting is when someone makes a prank call to emergency services, in an attempt to bring out a large number of armed officers to a certain address.  

All four men whose homes were swatted supported or sponsored House Bill 462, last year, to create the offense of swatting as a felony, became victims of the hoax yesterday.  

That bill was signed by the governor at the start of the year and became law in April, making swatting calls a felony of the fourth degree, and a second degree felony if it results in physical harm. Representative Kevin Miller (R-Newark) was one of the sponsors of the legislation, whose house was swatted.  

“Double digits,” Miller said, “There were over ten officers that responded.” 

Miller said his home was swatted under the pretense of a shooting situation. He said he first heard the sirens in the afternoon.

“Out here in rural Licking County, you don’t hear them a lot, so I heard them, and they started getting louder and louder,” Miller said.

Miller said he walked out to his porch and saw an officer blocking the road to the left of his house.  

“And that’s when I knew, this is getting crazy, somethings going on and it's local,” he said. “My son, he said ‘Dad, they have rifles,’ well they have rifles because they were dispatched to a shooting situation.”

As a former law enforcement officer, Miller said he was able to get a handle on the situation fairly quickly.  

“I called the chief deputy, who I knew from being the post commander out here. He said there is a report of a shooting. I told him my address and he’s like, ‘looks like there’s a swatting incident, then,” Miller siad.

Miller said still, out of an “abundance of caution” the officers checked all three of his neighbor’s houses across the road as well.  

“So, they actually got on the PA and brought them out of the houses just to make sure, in case it was a bad address, or something like that,” Miller said. “My neighbors were being called out from their houses with several sheriff’s deputies surrounding them.” 

Vice President of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and former state Representative Rick Carfagna, co-sponsored HB 462 with Miller. In a statement, he said, “I can confirm that my family and I were the victims of a swatting incident yesterday just after 3pm.  The Genoa Township Police Department and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office handled what was a very tense situation very professionally and I commend their response.”  

State Senator Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) sponsored Senate Bill 292, a companion bill to the House version that was ultimately adopted. He was swatted twice, once at his old home address, and once at his new address.  

“My understanding is that these were very serious accusations coming from whoever left these messages, that severe things were going on in the house,” Brenner said. “It would seem to me that either somebody’s testing us or they are using this for political revenge.” 

The FBI estimates 400 swatting calls are made each year across the country. No agency in Ohio is required to track the number of swatting calls made. Brenner said the problem with creating legislation to require that number is tracked, is that agencies would need someone to do that but said overall he would be supportive.  

“This is something that could probably be added to those statistics when they’re doing their reports and just put into a database,” Brenner said. “I would support that.” 

Brenner also said security systems also need to be looked at to help catch the perpetrators.  

“And how things operate from a standpoint of making these calls so that more information is identifiable to law enforcement,” Brenner said.  “So that if someone is committing a fraudulent call, we are able to trace it or track it down 

Miller said there are several other problems with swatting calls, like endangering both the officers driving and other people on the road.  

“They’re driving with due regard, they’re trained, but still, things can happen,” he said. “And that’s why these incidents are so dangerous.” 

Miller said these incidents also misplace resources.   

“The world doesn’t stop when this takes place,” he said. “All those officers are out here, well what happens when something takes place where they’re needed in another part of a county and they’re here for a hoax.” 

The new law does allow agencies to recoup costs for overtime and additional officers who were called in for swatting incidents. But Miller said this has been an issue for years, and that “we’ve seen an increased number of these taking place.”  

Miller said hospitals across the state were also swatted on Tuesday, in addition to elected officials' homes.  

“It just makes you wonder — what sick individual would do something like this, really,” Miller said.  

“This is serious, we have people who have been injured, have had heart attacks,” Brenner said.

Attorney General Dave Yost’s (R-Ohio) home was also swatted, in a statement a spokesperson said, “There was a swatting call yesterday that used the AG’s address. Police responded appropriately. The AG and his family were not home at the time.”