A Los Angeles County man was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for falsely reporting terrorist attacks targeting Southern California military bases.
Daniel Sandoval, a 29-year-old Santa Fe Springs resident, pleaded guilty in February to one count of false information and hoaxes after he submitted eight tips to the U.S. Department of Defense “falsely claiming that certain women were about to perpetrate mass-casualty attacks at U.S. military facilities in Los Angeles and Orange counties,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
Between March 21 and 23, 2021, Sandoval submitted eight online tips to the DOD, each time identifying one of several women who purportedly planned large-scale attacks at sites like a U.S. Navy weapons facility in Seal Beach and a military hospital in Bell Gardens.
For instance, Sandoval’s first tip told authorities that a woman identified only as “S.C.” in court documents was planning to “[blow] up military vehicles stationed [at the Seal Beach site] and civilian personnel vehicles,” the release said.
In his plea agreement, Sandoval admitted that he “substantially disrupted public and government functions and services,” including forcing evacuations.
“[Sandoval’s] unlawful conduct harmed not only the military bases he targeted and the personnel living or working on those bases, but also harmed the innocent women who he claimed were perpetrating these dangerous threats,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.