SWAT phone pranksters face prison time

DALLAS, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Four men and a woman in Texas are accused of making dozens of prank calls -- some successful -- to get SWAT teams deployed to unsuspecting victims' homes.

The alleged pranksters would call emergency services claiming to be an armed and crazed killer who had taken hostages and was ready to kill more, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday. Using a technology that befuddles caller ID devices, they would make it appear they were calling from another address.

Residents of that address then received a shock when tactical police broke down their door, a practice police called both wasteful and dangerous.

Between 2002 and 2006, the five suspects allegedly called authorities in more than 60 cities as part of their ruse, which they called SWATing.

Stuart Rosoff, Jason Trowbridge, Angela Robertson, Chad Ward and Santana Martinez, who go by the nicknames Michael Knight, Mr. Stoner, Dark Angel and Wicked Wizard, respectively, each face potential fines of $250,000 and up to five years in prison.

Rosoff and his associates are not the only ones playing the game. SWATing has ignited its own subculture.