An 18-year-old from Veneta, Oregon, has been hit with federal charges in what authorities describe as a swatting campaign that shut down parts of Ohio’s school day this spring. Investigators say a wave of hoax calls in March triggered multi-agency searches, lockdowns and closures that touched roughly 35 schools across the state, and that the calls were later traced to the teen, who told the FBI he was involved. He is scheduled to appear by video in federal court on June 12.
According to Cleveland.com, federal court papers identify the defendant as Nathan Hayes, 18, charged with a single count of making hoax threats. The complaint notes that Hayes is represented by the federal public defender’s office and that investigators say he admitted to making the threats that led to school lockdowns earlier this year.
Court records cited by Cleveland.com state that Hayes told agents he got involved through an online group and picked targets that had cameras, reportedly so he could “watch the panic unfold.” The filings say some of the activity started on a Discord server called Monkey Mafia, then shifted to Telegram after the Discord channel was deleted, and that earlier pre-recorded, AI-generated threats had reached more than 100 schools as far back as 2021.
March 4 disruptions across Ohio
The hoax calls that hit on March 4 rippled through districts statewide, prompting lockdowns, building sweeps and delayed dismissals while schools and police tried to make sure campuses were safe. News 5 Cleveland reported that Rocky River and several other Northeast Ohio districts received threatening calls around the same time, drawing a heavy, multijurisdictional law enforcement response. The Dayton Daily News detailed a separate bomb-threat evacuation at the Dayton Regional STEM School in Kettering that day; investigators later determined those calls were hoaxes as well.
Federal charges and possible penalties
The federal complaint centers on the allegation that Hayes made hoax threats, an offense that can fall under several federal statutes, depending on the type of false report. Federal law on false bomb reports, for example, appears in 18 U.S.C. § 844 and can carry penalties of up to 10 years. A separate false-information and hoaxes provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1038, sets a base maximum sentence and allows higher penalties if serious bodily injury or death results. The statutory language can be reviewed at law.cornell.edu and law.cornell.edu.
According to the court records described by Cleveland.com, Hayes previously spent time in a youth detention center in Oregon in 2023 after an earlier series of swatting calls. Prosecutors will decide whether to seek enhanced penalties based on the scope of the alleged scheme and any resulting harms, and the case remains under active federal investigation.
Local context and resources
The March lockdowns strained local police and school staff and renewed warnings from officials about the real-world costs of hoax threats. Hoodline’s March coverage of a related Lorain County scare noted that even baseless calls can pull officers away from other emergencies and rattle students and families long after everyone is told they are safe. Local agencies continue urging parents and caregivers to rely on official school district communications instead of rumors and social media speculation while investigators do their work.
