Wisconsin man sentenced to federal prison for Ring doorbell "swatting spree" targeting West Covina home

A Wisconsin man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for a "swatting spree" during which he accessed Ring doorbell accounts and made fake phone calls that brought SWAT to homes around the country, including one in West Covina, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Kya Christian Nelson, 23 of Racine, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to three felony charges in January. The charges included two counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information and for conspiracy. 

He was charged back in December 2022 in a Los Angeles federal court, along with James Thomas Andrew McCarty, a 22-year-old man from Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Prosecutors said that during a one-week period in November 2020, both of the men gained access to home security cameras sold by Ring LLC, and acquired username and password information for the victims' Yahoo email accounts. 

In their release, federal prosecutors said that Nelson and an accomplice accessed the West Covina victim's accounts and placed a hoax call to the West Covina Police Department. They say that the caller pretended to be a minor child and reported that her parents were drinking and shooting guns inside of their home. 

FBI agents say that the series of swatting incidents that occurred around the country led to them issuing a public service announcement urging owners of smart home devices to use complex and unique passwords. They also advised that people should enable two-factor authentication to help prevent from similar swatting attacks. 

McCarty was sentenced in June 2024 to seven years in federal prison for his part in the Los Angeles-area case, as well as additional charges stemming from Arizona. He also pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge as Nelson.