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  03:53pm CDT, 03/16/10
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Posted: Thursday, 13 March 2008 8:26AM

Phone Prankster Sentenced to 30 Months



It was all fun and games for a prankster -- but now he'll be thinking about it in a federal prison.  The dangerous -- and possibly deadly -- telephone hoax game called SWATting is sending Guadalupe Martinez to federal prison for more than two years.  Martinez was sentenced in Dallas yesterday.  He was convicted of making prank calls that sent a SWAT team to a home in rural Alvarado.  The elderly occupants of the home were awakened from their sleep by armed police who believed a bloody mass murder had been committed.  SWATting is a growing problem for police who are sent on wild goose chases which are expensive -- and could be deadly if an innocent victim were to make the wrong move while surrounded by a SWAT team.  While sentenced to 30 months -- with credit for good behavior, Martinez will be released in just one year.


 
 
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