A 25-year-old Philadelphia man took a fantasy football feud a step too far, pleading guilty to federal felony charges in the end.
Matthew Gabriel was responsible for sending two fake 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, the United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced Wednesday.
Gabriel admitted to a federal judge that he sent in the fake tips and pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of transmitting interstate threats.
Federal prosecutors didn’t reveal the origin of the feud, but Gabriel is said to have submitted his first anonymous tip on Aug. 3, 2023, via the Internet to the Norwegian Police Security Service.
Gabriel falsely claimed that a member of his fantasy football group, who was studying abroad in Norway, had been planning to carry out an attack after he arrived in the country later that month.
Gabriel had named the victim, who he gleaned information about off of the fantasy football group chat, and provided a description of him, telling Norwegian police that multiple people would be involved and they “plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store,” according to the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Gabriel added in his message to the Norwegian Police Security Service: “I just can’t have random people dying on my conscience.”
The tip set in motion a quick response that involved more than 900 investigative hours over a five-day span, which eventually led to Gabriel admitting to the FBI that he had sent in the false tip.
Even with prosecutors filing federal charges for the first phony tip, Gabriel “inexplicably” sent another email in March — this time to the University of Iowa — posing as another person attempting to alert officials about a “Possible Threat,” as an email subject line noted.
Federal prosecutors said that Gabriel sent a screenshot from the fantasy football group of a message that stated: “Hello University of Iowa a man named [Victim 1] told me he was gonna blow up the school.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Gabriel knew that there was no threat and that the message was sent as a joke, alluding to the phony tip that Gabriel had previously sent in.
“While already being prosecuted for one hoax threat spurred by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another,” Romero said in a statement. “His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations.
“Hoax threats aren’t a joke or protected speech, they’re a crime. My advice to keyboard warriors who’d like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit ‘post’ or ‘send.’”
Gabriel struck a deal with prosecutors that likely will spare him time behind bars, as prosecutors agreed to recommend a 15-month house arrest sentence and three years of probation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
In an interview with the outlet, Gabriel’s attorney, Lonny Fish, called the whole thing “a practical joke” and acknowledged that it “probably went a little further than it was meant to go.”
He also added that his client was “fortunate as hell to get house arrest.”
