BATAVIA, Ohio — A man has been charged in Clermont County for multiple swatting incidents, including a bomb threat made to the White House.
Michael Eugene Carpenter, of Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, is facing one count of swatting, which is a fourth-degree felony in Ohio.
Carpenter, 19, turned himself in to Clermont County authorities at around 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning; he drove roughly nine hours to do so, he said in court Thursday morning, because he lives in Pennsylvania.
According to the Clermont County Sheriff's Office, a call was made to police in Mansfield, Ohio on November 8 claiming the caller had shot his brother and tied up his mother at a home in Washington Township. When Clermont County officials responded to the address given, they said they discovered the call was fake.
In court, officials said Carpenter was found to have exchanged Snapchat messages with a child who lived at that location.
Then, very soon after Clermont County officials left the home in Washington Township, Clermont County dispatchers received a 911 call from the same male caller, who claimed he had "pressure bombs" at the White House and was holding someone hostage.
The Sheriff's Office said the caller verified over the phone he was "swatting," but the information was immediately forwarded to the Secret Service.
Then, on November 13, the Shelby County Communications Center received a call from a man claiming to have shot his mother at the same residence in Washington Township, though this time the call was followed by the sound of gunshots and screaming.
Authorities were dispatched, but when they arrived at the home they again determined the call had been fake.
Detectives traced the calls back to Carpenter because of social media records, according to the sheriff's office.
Thursday morning, a judge ordered him to be held on a $25,000 bond and to have no contact with the child who lives at the home Carpenter repeatedly swatted.
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