PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication with intent to injure after authorities say he sent threats to Norway using the name of a member of his fantasy football chat group with whom he'd been feuding.
Matthew Gabriel, 25, admitted to submitting an anonymous "tip" to the Norwegian Police Security Service in August 2023, claiming a member of his fantasy football chat group who was studying abroad there was planning to carry out a mass shooting, according to U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.
Gabriel also admitted to sending a bomb threat to the University of Iowa in March, using a different person's name, Romero said.
According to the guilty plea agreement, Gabriel had an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group. He learned that the member with whom he had a disagreement was going to study abroad in Norway in August of 2023.
On August 3, 2023, authorities said, Gabriel submitted an anonymous “tip” through the internet to the Norwegian Police Security Service, also known as Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste (“PST”), claiming that a member of his fantasy football chat group was going to carry out a mass shooting in Norway:
On August 15th a man named [Victim 1] is headed around Oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved. they plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store. I don’t know any more people then that, I just can’t have random people dying on my conscience. he plans to arrive there unarmed spend a couple days normal and then execute the attack. please be ready. he is around a 5 foot 7 read head coming from America, on the 10th or 11th I believe. he should have weapons with him. please be careful
Law enforcement in Norway and the United States spent hundreds of man-hours reacting to and investigating the threatened mass shooting over the course of a five-day period, prosecutors said.
When interviewed by the FBI, Gabriel admitted that he had submitted the “tip” to the PST and that the tip was false.
Then, on March 22 of this year, Gabriel sent an email posing as another individual to the University of Iowa with the subject line “Possible Threat," prosecutors claim.
The email stated:
Hello, I saw this in a group chat I’m in and just want to make sure everyone is safe and fine. I don’t want anything bad to happen to any body. Thank you. A man named [PERSON 1] from I believe Nebraska sent this, and I want to make sure that it is a joke and no one will get hurt.
The email then contained 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.”
Gabriel knew that the victim was not going to blow up the university and that the message had been sent in jest by another member of the fantasy football group regarding Gabriel’s prior threat.
Despite knowing that there was no actual threat to the University of Iowa, the defendant transmitted the email knowing that the University of Iowa would view it as a true threat, authorities said.
“While already being prosecuted for one hoax threat spurred by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “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 faces a maximum possible sentence of five years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.
