18-year-old arrested for swatting at Leesburg Safeway

LEESBURG, Virginia – Leesburg police arrested an 18-year-old man Thursday in connection with a swatting incident involving a false report of an armed robbery.

Leesburg resident Caleb Wolfe was charged with a misdemeanor related to making false emergency calls to emergency responders.

According to police, Wolfe reported a robbery at a Safeway grocery store around 7 p.m. on Saturday. He reported seeing two people armed with knives rob a male victim inside the store at 437 South King Street.

After an investigation, officers concluded that the call was a hoax. They were able to identify Wolfe as the caller and ordered him to appear in court.

“Filing a false report not only wastes valuable resources, but also creates a significant safety risk by diverting emergency personnel from where they are truly needed,” said Leesburg Police Chief Thea Pirnat. “This irresponsible behavior creates unnecessary fear and anxiety in our community and undermines the trust we strive to build with our customers.”

Thanks to advances in technology, more and more callers are able to mask their voice, phone number or IP address before making false 911 calls in an attempt to get police to take action. This is also known as “swatting.” Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigations created a national swatting database to track the increasing number of such false reports. Swatting violates both federal law and the laws of several states. In Virginia, swatting can be punished with up to one year in prison.