A man who authorities say sent a series of bogus shooting and bomb threats to schools, engaged in cyber and swatting attacks and even launched an attack on a Long Beach company’s website has been sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison, the Department of Justice announced today.
Timothy Dalton Vaughn, 22, from North Carolina, pleaded guilty in November 2019 to one count of conspiracy to convey threats to injure, convey false information concerning use of explosive device, and intentionally damage a computer; one count of computer hacking; and one count of possession of child pornography, officials said.
A federal judge sentenced Vaughn to 95 months for the child pornography possession and 60 months for each of the other charges, but the terms will be served at the same time.
Vaughn, whose online aliases included “WantedbyFeds” and “Hacker_R_US,” was a member of the “Apophis Squad,” a worldwide collective of computer hackers and swatters, that caused disruptions with threatening phone calls and bogus reports of attacks on schools, according to the DOJ.
“Vaughn and others sent emails to at least 86 school districts threatening armed students and explosives,” the DOJ said. “The threatened attacks included the imminent detonation of a bomb made with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, rocket-propelled grenade heads placed under school buses, and the placement of land mines on sports fields.”
He also possessed nearly 200 sexually explicit images and videos depicting children, including at least one toddler, according to the DOJ. Officials also say Vaughn and others reported a false hijacking report for a London flight heading to San Francisco.
In Long Beach specifically, Vaughn hacked into the servers that hosted the site for the motorsport company Hoonigan and demanded 1.5 Bitcoin (worth about $20,000 at the time). When the company didn’t comply, Vaughn effectively shut their site down for three days. He also threatened to release all of Hoonigan’s customer’s information, according to the indictment. The attacks cost Hoonigan $5,000 in losses.
“This is not a joke and this is to be taken seriously,” the threat said. “You can Proudly Direct Message me When you have paid on Twitter @WantedbyFeds Or When i completely receive payment i will see it and stop the attacks (sic).”
On Jan. 15, 2018, Vaughn bragged in a chatroom that he had crippled the business, the federal indictment said.