LOS ANGELES — A former Arizona resident has been taken into custody on suspicion of conspiring with another suspect to hack a ring doorbell camera and call a fake emergency for law enforcement.

Charges were filed against 20-year-old James Thomas Andrew McCarty last week in Arizona after investigators identified him as one of the suspects for allegedly “swatting” in November 2020. rice field.

McCarty, who was living in Navajo County at the time the crime allegedly occurred, is accused of conspiring with Ca Christian Nelson to hack dozens of Ring accounts across the country. U.S. Attorney’s Office in Central California.

After gaining access to the Ring account, the suspect made a fake emergency call and had a large police presence visit the account holder’s home.

The defendant then allegedly live-streamed police visiting the victim’s residence and posted the footage online.

Prosecutors say McCarty and Nelson carried out the scheme by obtaining username and password information for Yahoo email accounts. Then determine if those Yahoo accounts also have Ring accounts.

“Swatting” events have occurred in California, Montana, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, Alabama and Florida.

According to prosecutors, the defendant allegedly verbally abused responding police officers and victims via ring devices in several incidents.

A series of “swatting” incidents in late 2020 prompted the FBI to public recommendation Encourage Ring users to use complex passwords for their accounts.

Both defendants have been charged with conspiracy to access computers without authorization. Nelson is also charged with his two counts of unauthorized and intentional access to a computer and his two counts of identity theft, which is aggravated.

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