California Man Given 12-Month Prison Term for False Claims About Attacks on Military Facilities
A Santa Fe Springs, California, man was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison on Nov. 4 for deliberately submitting eight false online tips to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
Daniel Sandoval, 29, pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to one count of false information and hoaxes. Sandoval was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.
Sandoval deliberately provided a false online tip to the DOD reporting system, stating that a woman, identified only as "S.C." in court documents, intended to set off bombs in a "mass attack" at a U.S Navy weapons facility in Seal Beach in Orange County.
Sandoval's tip included a claim that the attack would entail "blowing up military vehicles stationed there and civilian personnel vehicles," court documents stated.
He submitted over the following two days seven more online tips to the DOD, identifying women who he falsely claimed posed threats to certain military facilities, according to the DOD.
On March 22, 2021, Sandoval sent a tip to the DOD falsely claiming a woman—identified in court documents only as "S.H."—and others intended to set off bombs at a U.S. military hospital in Bell Gardens, located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
The following day, he provided another online tip that falsely stated a woman—who court documents identify as "L.E."—and others intended to bomb and commit a mass shooting at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in South El Monte, located in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County.
Sandoval admitted in his plea agreement that he had considerably disrupted public and government functions and services, including causing the evacuation of personnel from a Navy building.
The Epoch Times contacted Sandoval's attorney for comment but didn't hear back before publication.
"[Sandoval's] unlawful conduct harmed not only the military bases he targeted and the personnel living or working on those bases, but also harmed the innocent women who he claimed were perpetrating these dangerous threats," prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum.
The FBI's Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force led the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander Tran of the General Crimes Section and James Santiago of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section, prosecuted this case.
