(CNN) – Witty banter and insults between rivals are common in fantasy football leagues, but a Philadelphia man’s online dispute has led to an international investigation and federal charges after he falsely accused another player of trying to lead carried out violent attacks, according to the prosecution.
Matthew Gabriel, 25, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of threats after prosecutors say he gave false leads to police in the United States and abroad claiming that his rival was planning a bomb attack and a mass shooting, the United States Department of Justice announced this Wednesday.
Gabriel made the first false threat following an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement.
After learning that the member would be studying abroad in Norway in August 2023, Gabriel sent an anonymous “tip” to the Norwegian Police Security Service – which investigates threats to the country’s national security – claiming that the man was planning to carry out a mass shooting in Norway, according to the statement.
Gabriel wrote that the fellow fantasy football player “was heading to the outskirts of Oslo and has a shootout planned with several people on his side involved. “They plan to kill everyone they can at a concert and then head to a department store,” according to prosecutors.
Law enforcement agencies in Norway and the United States spent five days and hundreds of hours investigating the threat, according to prosecutors. Gabriel ended up admitting in an interview with the FBI that he had sent the false information, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Gabriel’s “poor decision was an anomaly,” his attorney, Lonny Fish, told CNN in a statement Thursday. Gabriel “apologizes to the subject of the threat, to the Norwegian authorities who spent almost 900 hours of manpower to investigate the case, and to anyone else who was harmed by his actions.”
While investigating Gabriel for the international hoax in Norway, prosecutors said they learned that Gabriel had emailed another fictitious threat earlier this year, this time to the University of Iowa.
In March, Gabriel sent an email to the university indicating that the same member of the fantasy football group was threatening to “blow up the school,” which Gabriel knew was false, prosecutors said.
“While already being prosecuted for a false threat spurred by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another one,” said Jacqueline Romero, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “His actions were extremely disturbing and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations.”
Gabriel was released Tuesday on $25,000 bail, court records show, and is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. .
False threats are a crime, Romero warned in his statement.
“My advice to keyboard warriors who want to avoid federal charges: always think about the possible consequences before hitting ‘publish’ or ‘send,’” he said.
