For breaking into Ring doorbell cameras and then luring police to the homes of gullible people in order to live stream the possibly violent altercations, a Wisconsin man will serve more than three years in jail.
For taking part in a one-week flurry of “swatting” episodes that occurred at residences nationwide in 2020, including two in Southern California, Kya Christian Nelson, 23, of Racine, Wisconsin, received a sentence of 44 months in federal prison.
The United States Department of Justice claims that Nelson and his accomplices used Yahoo email accounts that they had previously stolen to access the doorbell cameras. They then used the same email address and password combination to check for any connected Ring accounts.
After logging on, Nelson and his buddies would call local law enforcement to report fictitious crises in an attempt to get an armed police response to their house.
The group would first prepare the ground for a possible law enforcement reaction, then post audio and video of the compromised devices on social media. They would even utilise the cameras to mock the victims and responding officers.
On November 8, 2020, Nelson and another individual accessed a victim’s Ring account in West Covina. They then pretended to be small children and called the West Covina Police Department to report that their parents were engaged in a violent altercation inside the house, adding that there were multiple firearms on the property and that at least seven bullets had already been fired.
Following the fictitious call, armed police arrived at the house, and the homeowners were taken out at gunpoint. According to the DOJ, Nelson taunted and threatened responding officers while using the camera during the police operation.
A few days later, Nelson and a buddy called the Oxnard Police Department to pretend to be children and report that their father was inside the house with a gun after another swatting incident occurred at a residence in Oxnard. The sound of gunshots inside the house prompted a second fictitious call to police dispatch.
Officers arrived and entered the victim’s house at gunpoint once more, and Nelson once more threatened and taunted them using the Ring camera in the house.
Nelson was incarcerated in Kentucky on an unrelated felony before being placed in federal custody in August 2024. In January, he entered a guilty plea in the swatting case.
James Andre McCarty, a 22-year-old co-conspirator from Kayenta, Arizona, was given a seven-year sentence in federal prison for his involvement in the Ring criminal spree.
McCarty also acknowledged another instance in Florida where he called the local police station and claimed to be a man holding a hostage and having just slain his wife. He warned them that he was armed and had set up explosives in the house.
According to the DOJ, he took credit for the police response after live-streaming it on social media and added, “stating that he thought it was amusing,”
Prosecutors said in sentencing records that Nelson and his accomplices were criminals who, while safe behind their computers, “went on a digital crime spree, terrorising innocent people around the country.”
“He subjected others to real danger,” prosecutors wrote.
The FBI looked into the matter.
