A Philadelphia man who got swept up in a bitter fantasy football beef pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he falsely warned authorities in Norway and Iowa that his rival was plotting a mass shooting and a bombing, prosecutors said.
Matthew Gabriel, 25, went rogue against his league mate after a disagreement in an online fantasy football chat, investigators said. Gabriel knew his foe was planning to study abroad in Norway beginning in August 2023 and submitted an anonymous online tip to the Norwegian Police Security Service. In the Aug. 3 message, Gabriel said his opponent and others planned to carry out a mass shooting.
MORE: An overnight market for food trucks is headed to Fishtown outside the Fillmore
"On August 15th a man named (Victim 1) is headed around oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved," Gabriel told authorities. "(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 (than) that, I just can't have random people dying on my conscience. (He) plans to arrive there unarmed spend a couple days normal and then execute the attack."
Gabriel included a description of his rival and advised police he was likely to have weapons with him. Police in the United States and Norway "spent hundreds of man-hours" investigating the false tip over a period of five days before determining it was bogus, prosecutors said.
Gabriel later admitted to the FBI that that he had submitted the false tip, but he attempted to frame his opponent a second time earlier this year with another fake tip to the University of Iowa on March 22. In an email with the subject line "Possible Threat," Gabriel attached a screenshot from his fantasy football group chat that said, "Hello University of Iowa a man named (Victim 1) told me he was gonna blow up the school."
"I don't want anything bad to happen to any body," Gabriel wrote in the email.
Gabriel's attorney, Lonnie Fish, told NBC News on Wednesday that he couldn't explain his client's actions.
"I don't know what he was thinking," Fish said "It was definitely not smart."
Prosecutors did not share details about the nature of the disagreement between Gabriel and his fantasy football rival. Fish said Gabriel apologized to the rival.
Gabriel was charged in March and on Wendesday pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure. Although the maximum penalty for such crimes is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Fish said he was able to work out a plea deal with prosecutors that would only result in 15 months of house arrest for Gabriel plus probation.
"Most people would be going to prison," Fish told NBC News. "This is not the type of thing you get house arrest for. This is the type of thing, you (often) go to prison."
The sentencing deal still needs to be approved by the judge in the case, a decision that will happen when Gabriel is formally sentenced in January.
U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, warned others to consider Gabriel's case a cautionary tale.
"Hoax threats aren't a joke or protected speech, they're a crime," Romero said. "My advice to keyboard warriors who'd like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit 'post' or 'send.'"