A 25-year-old Philadelphia man went too far in a fantasy football dispute and ended up pleading guilty to federal charges.
Matthew Gabriel was responsible for sending two false tips to authorities in Norway and Iowa after claiming that another member of his fantasy league was planning to commit a mass shooting in Norway and “blow up the school” at the University of Iowa. U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero made the announcement Wednesday..
Gabriel admitted to a federal judge that he made the false reports and pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of transmitting interstate threats.
Federal prosecutors did not reveal the origins of the feud, but Gabriel is said to have made the first anonymous tip via the internet to the Norwegian Police Security Service on August 3, 2023.
Gabriel falsely claimed members of a fantasy football group studying abroad in Norway were planning to attack him after he arrived in the country later that month.
According to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Gabriel listed the names and descriptions of the victims he had gathered in a fantasy football group chat, and told Norwegian police that multiple people were involved in the incident and that his plan was to “take as many people as he could from the concert and then head to the department store.”
Gabriel added in a message to the Norwegian Police Security Service: “My conscience tells me that I cannot allow people to die indiscriminately.”
The tip launched a rapid response that involved more than 900 hours of investigation over five days, and Gabriel ultimately pleaded guilty to making a false tip to the FBI.
Even though prosecutors filed federal charges for the initial false tip, Gabriel “inexplicably” sent another email in March, this time to the University of Iowa, posing as a different person and attempting to warn authorities about a “potential threat,” according to the email's subject line.
Federal prosecutors say Gabriel received a message from a fantasy football group saying, “Hello, I'm a guy from the University of Iowa. [Victim 1] He said he was going to blow up the school.”
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Gabriel knew no threats were made and the messages were sent as a joke, alluding to a false tip Gabriel had sent earlier.
“Matthew Gabriel had already been charged with sending one threatening email sparked by a fantasy football league, and inexplicably decided to send another,” Romero said in a statement. “His actions have been extremely disruptive and have drained significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting those resources from actual cases and investigations.”
“Prank threats are not a joke or protected speech – they are a crime. Our advice to keyboard warriors wanting to avoid violating federal law is to always consider the possible consequences before hitting the 'post' or 'send' button.”
Gabriel will likely avoid serving any prison time after reaching a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to recommend 15 months of house arrest and three years of probation. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported..
In an interview with the outlet, Gabriel's lawyer, Ronnie Fish, called the whole thing a “prank” and acknowledged that it “probably got a little more extreme than originally intended.”
He added that the defendant was “really fortunate to be able to receive house arrest.”
