Philly man pleads guilty to fake shooting, bomb tips on fantasy football rival

A Philadelphia man pleaded guilty to falsely accusing members of his fantasy football league group chat of planning mass attacks, a federal prosecutor's office announced Wednesday.

Matthew Gabriel, 25, admitted to making a threat to injure people in another U.S. state, as well as another country, after disagreements with the players led him to lie about the plans in August 2023 and this past March, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a .

The office explained that Gabriel anonymously told Norwegian national police last year a member of his fantasy football chat was going to carry out a mass shooting in the country, where the player was going to study abroad. Gabriel told the police to be careful, adding that the player was going to come with weapons.

"On August 15th a man named [redacted] is headed around oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved," he wrote in the tip, according to the prosecutor's office.

"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," Gabriel continued.

He later admitted to the FBI the player was not going to carry out a mass shooting, the prosecutors said.

You do not get to express emotions through violence or threats of violence," Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of FBI Philadelphia, noted in the release.

The U.S. Attorney's Office added that Gabriel suggested in an email to the University of Iowa this past March that the same player was going to detonate a bomb on campus. Another member of the fantasy football chat said that player was going to "blow up the school," which was a joke in reference to Gabriel's past claim, according to the prosecutors.

The office said that Gabriel took a screenshot of that message and attached it to the email with the note, "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 [sic]."

"While already being prosecuted for one hoax threat spurred by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another," U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said.

His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations," she added. "Hoax threats aren't a joke or protected speech, they're a crime."

Gabriel faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, according to the prosecutors.

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