PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man, accused of falsely telling law enforcement officials that a rival planned to carry out mass-casualty events in Norway and Iowa, has pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure.
According to the guilty plea agreement, Matthew Gabriel, 25, turned an online dispute with a member of his fantasy football chat group into an international incident after learning that the person would be leaving for Norway in August 2023 for a study abroad program.
The defendant admitted to submitting a false “tip” anonymously online to the Norwegian Police Security Service (also known as Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste or PST) on Aug. 3, 2023 — a few days before the person left the United States.
Gabriel falsely told the Norwegian police that the person from his chat group was planning to carry out a mass shooting at a concert and a department store 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
Investigators in Norway and the U.S. spent hundreds of hours investigating the threat. When the FBI confronted Gabriel, he admitted to the hoax, but that didn’t stop him.
On March 22 of this year, while under investigation for the hoax, Gabriel, posing as another individual, sent an email to the University of Iowa suggesting that the person from his chat victim was going to blow up the school.
Gabriel admitted to sending the email, with the subject line “Possible Threat,” stating:
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.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the email contained a screenshot from the fantasy football group chat, showing a message sent in jest by another member of the group regarding Gabriel’s prior hoax: “Hello University of Iowa a man named [Victim 1] told me he was gonna blow up the school.”
Gabriel knew there was no real threat, but he sent the email knowing that the University of Iowa would view it as one, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gabriel faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.