In a significant legal development, James Thomas Andrew McCarty, a 21-year-old resident of New Mexico, was sentenced last week to seven years in prison. McCarty pleaded guilty to charges from two separate indictments involving hoax calls that triggered intense SWAT responses across multiple states.
The first indictment, originating from the District of Arizona, saw McCarty admitting guilt on February 1, 2024, to making hoax calls to high schools in Indiana and Oklahoma. He used the names of real students at these schools during the calls, resulting in two charges of aggravated identity theft. On January 25, 2021, McCarty called a high school in Indiana, posing as a student and falsely claiming to be armed with an AR-15 rifle, a Glock handgun, and propane bottles, threatening to attack the school. Shortly after, he made a similar call to a high school in Oklahoma, again impersonating a student and claiming to be armed and ready to cause an explosion and subsequent shooting.
McCarty further pleaded guilty to making two additional hoax calls on April 16, 2021, and May 20, 2021. In these incidents, he impersonated a homeowner and falsely reported to police that he had killed his wife, was planning to kill others, and had planted bombs at a residence and a retail location.
The second indictment, from the Central District of California, involved McCarty pleading guilty to conspiracy charges on February 1, 2024. He collaborated with others to hack into Ring doorbell accounts. On November 13, 2020, McCarty accessed a victim’s Ring account in Florida, called the local police, and claimed to be the victim’s husband who had just committed murder, was holding a hostage, and had rigged the house with explosives. He then livestreamed the police response, finding amusement in the chaos he had created. Similar calls were made to victims in California.
This extensive investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Arizona and Los Angeles offices, with critical support from local police departments across New Jersey, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Ohio. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona in Phoenix and the Central District of California handled the prosecution, ensuring that McCarty’s actions were met with the full force of the law.
James Thomas Andrew McCarty’s sentencing marks a stern warning against the severe consequences of making hoax calls and engaging in such disruptive and dangerous behavior.
