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Tennessee man sentenced for deadly 'swatting' scheme over username Login/Join 
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https://wcyb.com/news/nation-w...scheme-over-username

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man was sentenced to five years in prison this week for his role in an international “swatting” scheme that led to a person's death, The Commercial Appeal reported.

Authorities said Shane Sonderman, of Lauderdale County, worked with others, including a minor in Great Britain, to try to force people to hand over control of desirable social media usernames through harassment, including swatting. Swatting is an illegal practice of falsely reporting life-threatening emergencies at a person's home, causing heavily armed police, and sometimes SWAT teams, to rush to the scene.

In this case, Sonderman, 20, provided contact information to a co-conspirator about Mark Herring, of Sumner County, who controlled the Twitter handle @Tennessee, according to court documents.

On April 27, 2020, that co-conspirator called Sumner County police to say "that he had shot a female in the back of a head and she was dead, and that he would use pipe bombs placed at the front and back doors if police responded," according to a statement signed by federal prosecutors. The address the caller gave was Herring’s home.

“Emergency responders were dispatched, and when they arrived at Herring’s home, guns drawn, they called for Herring to walk toward them, keeping his hands visible. As he did so, Herring, 60, appeared to lose his balance and fell to the ground, unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital; cause of death was determined to be a heart attack,” court records state.

Sonderman entered a guilty plea to conspiracy in March.

Herring’s relatives told WKRN-TV in Nashville in a recent interview that Herring was a tech-savvy grandfather who joined Twitter in the early days when many handles were still readily available. They said an anonymous caller contacted Herring on the day he died, demanding he hand over control of the @Tennessee handle, but he refused.

“He just wanted to be @Tennessee because he loved the Vols,” daughter Corinna Fitch told the station, referring to the University of Tennessee football team.

Sonderman and his co-conspirators are accused of using similar harassment tactics with other people, including a victim in Oregon called K.G. in court papers. They are accused of harassing K.G.'s parents in Ohio by sending unwanted deliveries of food and by falsely reporting a fire at their house on April 14, 2020.

They then sent K.G. a message reading, “did your parent’s enjoy the firetrucks?” followed by “i plan on killing your parents next if you do not hand the username on instrgam over to me,” according to the indictment. Federal documents list other victims in New York, Virginia and Michigan.

U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris declined a defense attorney's plea for leniency on Wednesday, sentencing Sonderman to five years in prison with limited Internet access and requiring him to receive mental health treatment.


_________________________
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Posts: 13567 | Registered: January 17, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Little asshole. Five years is inadequate. Twenty is more like it, plus the ass-whipping of a lifetime.
quote:
...with limited Internet access...
Say what? How about absolutely no internet access? How about if you even look at a computer, we add a year onto your sentence?

Where's the civil suit?
 
Posts: 110515 | Registered: January 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris declined a defense attorney's plea for leniency


5 years isn't lenient? He should have been tried for murder.
 
Posts: 7177 | Registered: April 02, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I dont believe that its possible to illustrate the rampant stupidity of our society better than reading about this incident. Cause a mans death over a Twitter handle? The charge should have been conspiracy to commit murder.


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Posts: 16666 | Location: Marquette MI | Registered: July 08, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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He should get the dirt nap.
 
Posts: 11540 | Location: Michigan | Registered: July 01, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by nukeandpave:
He should get the dirt nap.

Yup. To bad the legal system doesn’t allow for a sentence more appropriate to the crime.
 
Posts: 7302 | Location: Lost, but making time. | Registered: February 23, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by nukeandpave:
He should get the dirt nap.


I'm not sure the intent to murder is there. But a man is dead directly as a result of this idiot's actions. I think a full 20 years is a good place to start.





“Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.” – James Madison

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Posts: 3628 | Location: Middle Tennessee  | Registered: March 23, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by sigalert:
I'm not sure the intent to murder is there.


Oh?

quote:
They then sent K.G. a message reading, “did your parent’s enjoy the firetrucks?” followed by “i plan on killing your parents next if you do not hand the username on instrgam over to me,” according to the indictment.


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Posts: 17948 | Location: Sonoran Desert | Registered: February 10, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I'm good with the idea of "intentional recklessness" and "depraved indifference" justifying longer prison terms.
 
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Wow that's crazy.
 
Posts: 25613 | Registered: March 12, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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My guess is the cops slapped cuffs on him and called it good assuming he did what they were told. Otherwise he could of been revived possibly. Another reason why the guy should of got a 20 year sentence without parole.



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Posts: 20078 | Registered: September 21, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Here's another little bitch who didn't get enough prison time:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u...h-kansas-man-n978291
 
Posts: 110515 | Registered: January 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
Here's another little bitch who didn't get enough prison time:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u...h-kansas-man-n978291


Yeah, and our LEO's have to deal with the aftermath. SOB should have got a rope.




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Posts: 3820 | Location: Wichita, Kansas | Registered: March 27, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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The guy in the article is just one of the accessories ... there is no mention of what became of the person that actually called 911 with the false information....


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Posts: 4441 | Location: Greenville, SC | Registered: January 30, 2017Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by wcb6092:
https://wcyb.com/news/nation-w...scheme-over-username

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man was sentenced to five years in prison this week for his role in an international “swatting” scheme that led to a person's death, The Commercial Appeal reported.

Authorities said Shane Sonderman, of Lauderdale County, worked with others, including a minor in Great Britain, to try to force people to hand over control of desirable social media usernames through harassment, including swatting. Swatting is an illegal practice of falsely reporting life-threatening emergencies at a person's home, causing heavily armed police, and sometimes SWAT teams, to rush to the scene.

In this case, Sonderman, 20, provided contact information to a co-conspirator about Mark Herring, of Sumner County, who controlled the Twitter handle @Tennessee, according to court documents.

On April 27, 2020, that co-conspirator called Sumner County police to say "that he had shot a female in the back of a head and she was dead, and that he would use pipe bombs placed at the front and back doors if police responded," according to a statement signed by federal prosecutors. The address the caller gave was Herring’s home.

“Emergency responders were dispatched, and when they arrived at Herring’s home, guns drawn, they called for Herring to walk toward them, keeping his hands visible. As he did so, Herring, 60, appeared to lose his balance and fell to the ground, unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital; cause of death was determined to be a heart attack,” court records state.

Sonderman entered a guilty plea to conspiracy in March.

Herring’s relatives told WKRN-TV in Nashville in a recent interview that Herring was a tech-savvy grandfather who joined Twitter in the early days when many handles were still readily available. They said an anonymous caller contacted Herring on the day he died, demanding he hand over control of the @Tennessee handle, but he refused.

“He just wanted to be @Tennessee because he loved the Vols,” daughter Corinna Fitch told the station, referring to the University of Tennessee football team.

Sonderman and his co-conspirators are accused of using similar harassment tactics with other people, including a victim in Oregon called K.G. in court papers. They are accused of harassing K.G.'s parents in Ohio by sending unwanted deliveries of food and by falsely reporting a fire at their house on April 14, 2020.

They then sent K.G. a message reading, “did your parent’s enjoy the firetrucks?” followed by “i plan on killing your parents next if you do not hand the username on instrgam over to me,” according to the indictment. Federal documents list other victims in New York, Virginia and Michigan.

U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris declined a defense attorney's plea for leniency on Wednesday, sentencing Sonderman to five years in prison with limited Internet access and requiring him to receive mental health treatment.


Limited internet access? I wish I could say I am surprised by this but sadly cannot. This CRIMINAL used the internet in pursuit of his victims and their money. And the "judge" comes up with "limited access" from prison?


Elk

There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour)

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. "
-Thomas Jefferson

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FBHO!!!



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Posts: 25656 | Location: Virginia | Registered: December 16, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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They should burn him with fire dry ice!



 
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I was thinking fire ants myself.......
 
Posts: 4979 | Location: NH | Registered: April 20, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Sailor1911:
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
Here's another little bitch who didn't get enough prison time:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u...h-kansas-man-n978291


Yeah, and our LEO's have to deal with the aftermath. SOB should have got a rope.


I would add the cop who fired to the list of people deserving punishment.





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Posts: 32590 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: May 17, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
Little asshole. Five years is inadequate. Twenty is more like it, plus the ass-whipping of a lifetime.
quote:
...with limited Internet access...
Say what? How about absolutely no internet access? How about if you even look at a computer, we add a year onto your sentence?

Where's the civil suit?


If he has no money or property, a civil suit won't get you anything.




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Posts: 53479 | Location: Texas | Registered: February 10, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Thanks, Perry Mason. Do you know if he has money or property?
 
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