Philadelphia man-made bomb, mass shooting threats amid fantasy football feud

A 25-year-old Philadelphia man took a fantasy football feud a step too far, ultimately pleading guilty to federal felony charges.

Matthew Gabriel is responsible for sending two false tips to authorities in Norway and Iowa after claiming that another member of his fantasy league was planning to commit a mass shooting in Norway and “blow up the school” at the University of Iowa, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said Wednesday.

Gabriel admitted to a federal judge that he sent false information and pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of transmitting interstate threats.

Federal prosecutors have not revealed the origins of the feud, but Gabriel reportedly submitted his first anonymous tip on August 3, 2023, via the internet to the Norwegian police’s security service.

Gabriel falsely claimed that a member of his fantasy football group, who was studying abroad in Norway, planned to carry out an attack after arriving in the country later that month.

Gabriel had named the victim, about whom he had gleaned information from the fantasy football chat room, and provided a description of himself, telling Norwegian police that multiple people were involved and that they “planned to take as many as possible at a concert and then head to a department store,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Gabriel added in his message to the Norwegian police security service: “I simply cannot have people dying randomly on my conscience.”

This information triggered a rapid response that required more than 900 hours of investigation over a five-day period, ultimately leading Gabriel to admit to the FBI that he had sent the false information.

Even though prosecutors filed federal charges for the first false report, Gabriel “inexplicably” sent another email in March — this time to the University of Iowa — posing as someone else trying to alert authorities of a “possible threat,” as the subject line of one email stated.

Federal prosecutors said Gabriel sent a screenshot to the fantasy football group of a message that read: “Hello University of Iowa, a man named (Victim 1) told me he was going to blow up the school.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Gabriel knew there was no threat and that the message was sent as a joke, alluding to the false intelligence Gabriel had sent earlier.

“While already facing charges for a hoax threat motivated by, among other things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another one,” Romero said in a statement. “His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from real incidents and investigations.”

“Hoax threats are not a joke or protected speech, they are a crime. My advice to keyboard warriors who want to avoid federal prosecution: always think about the potential consequences before hitting “post” or “send.”

Gabriel reached a deal with prosecutors that will likely spare him time behind bars, as prosecutors agreed to recommend a 15-month sentence of house arrest and three years of probation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

In an interview with the outlet, Gabriel’s attorney, Lonny Fish, called the whole case a “joke” and acknowledged that “it probably went a little further than it should have.”

He also added that his client had “been extremely lucky to be placed under house arrest.”