A 13-year-old "Minecraft" player is scheduled to appear in court after confessing to carrying out three swatting pranks to different victims.
The boy, whose identity was not revealed due to his age, will likely be put on probation due to his offenses, Ars Technica reported.
Swatting is a dangerous prank that involves falsely reporting a crime to law enforcers which prompts them to deploy a SWAT team to the location where the supposed incident is taking place.
In the case of the young suspect, he carried out the three pranks in January of this year. The two incidents were aimed at his teacher and his female classmate, who lived near his hometown of Camarillo, California, while the third one targeted a rival "Minecraft" gamer from Ocean City, New Jersey.
According to investigators, in one of the Camarillo incidents, the boy told the police that a hostage situation is taking place. Due to the gravity of the situation, the law enforcers sent out a special unit.
"[In] the Camarillo incident there were 20-plus officers there," Detective Gene Martinez of the Ventura County Sherriff's Department told Ars Technica.
"We basically surrounded the house," he continued. "The caller reported there were 10 hostages in the house and demanded $30,000 in cash or he would blow up the house. Whenever there is a hostage situation, we activate specialized units to respond."
The officers said the boy used a special software to make the anonymous call to the police. However, they were able to trace the suspect's IP details which led them to his California address.
Currently, the boy is in the custody of his parents but is expected to appear in juvenile court in April for his trial.
The teen is the latest suspect apprehended by law enforcers for swatting. In February, 19-year-old Brandon Wilson from Las Vegas was arrested for swatting a rival gamer who lives in Chicago.
Since Wilson is of legal age, he could be imprisoned for up to five years if found guilty, according to Game Spot.
