Cindy Von Quednow, Ventura County Star (Calif.)

Authorities have disclosed more details on a false emergency phone call that prompted a huge law enforcement response in Newbury Park early this year and eventually led to the prosecution of a 22-year-old Massachusetts man.

Nathan Hanshaw recently pleaded guilty in federal court to making interstate threats, threatening to use explosives and threatening to use a firearm, authorities said.

From September 2012 through mid-January, Hanshaw made “swatting” calls to emergency services in Denver, Waverly, N.Y., and the sheriff’s communications center in Ventura, officials said.

In the local incident, reported Jan. 2 at the La Quinta Inn in Newbury Park, Hanshaw called the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office saying he had an AK-47 and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, officials said. He demanded money and a helicopter ride to Mexico and threatened to detonate a bomb and kill hostages if his demands were denied, they said. He also threatened to kill any law enforcement personnel who responded to the motel, officials said.

Deputies and the Ventura County Fire Department responded but found no evidence of a crime.

Authorities released few details at the time of the incident, citing an ongoing investigation.

A similar call made Jan. 5 led investigators to the same location, where they eventually found a man who said he was the target of the false calls, Detective Todd Welty said.

The man, who was not identified, provided information about the false phone calls that helped investigators track down the caller, Welty said. The man apparently belonged to an online gaming forum with Hanshaw, and Hanshaw was trying to frame the man for the false phone calls, Welty said.

Authorities originally thought the calls were local, but after serving search warrants and interviewing the man, they determined it was a cross-country endeavor. Welty called the crimes “technical and sophisticated.”

“This is a new version, with technology, of calling in a fake pizza order to a neighbor,” the detective said. “It’s much more serious and has no limitations.”

FBI specialists were familiar with Hanshaw, who was found responsible for a hacking scheme as a teen, and they led the investigation, Welty said.

Though investigators could not connect the second phone call to Hanshaw, the FBI eventually tracked him down. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, officials said.

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