FBI Most Wanted suspect found and arrested in Ohio

Adam Conn
·2 min read

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The FBI found a Most Wanted suspect in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday who used nicknames including “bit coin,” “Simswapping,” “user data god,” “Tuyal” and “yahoo.emails.”

Agents arrested 18-year-old Brayden Grace after accusing him of being involved in multiple swatting calls across the United States. He faces charges including conspiracy, interstate stalking, interstate threatening communication and interstate threat involving fire or explosives.

Brayden Grace
Brayden Grace is seen in images shared by the FBI. (Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation)

While Grace had alleged involvement in incidents across the country, he was accused of a local threat as well. Federal court documents listed one incident on Jan. 5 in which Grace allegedly called the Hollywood Casino in west Columbus. Going by the nickname “bit coin,” he is accused of threatening casino staff on the phone with shooting and burning down the building unless he received $100,000 in cash and a helicopter.

Two phone calls were placed, one from a person inside the casino in which the caller said he had a bomb strapped to his chest while inside the casino. The caller told a 911 operator that a second person had a sniper rifle on top of the parking garage.

A second call came from a person claiming to be on the parking garage with a sniper rifle. He told a 911 operator there was also a person inside the casino with a bomb who would “blow this place up.” Police canvased the area and a police helicopter searched the entire perimeter. Multiple phone numbers were pinged during the investigation, but those attempts were unsuccessful.

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Grace was part of a group active on Instagram and Telegram called “Purgatory,” which used the social media platforms to plan multiple swatting calls between December and January, according to court documents, which stated that afterward, they would announce the swatting calls they made on the platforms.

Alongside the casino call, Grace and others in Purgatory were accused of the other following swatting calls in a federal indictment:

  • A threat to burn down a residential trailer park in Alabama

  • A shooting threat against a teacher and unnamed students at a high school in Delaware

  • A shooting and bomb threat to the Albany International Airport in New York

  • A multiple homicide event and shooting threat against individuals in a residence in Eastman, Georgia

Grace will appear in federal court on Monday at 1 p.m. for a detention hearing in which a judge will decide whether to release, assign bail or detain him.

If convicted, Grace faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count of conspiracy, cyberstalking and interstate threat and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge to damage or destroy by means of fire and explosive.

The FBI did not say if it had found other members of Purgatory as of Thursday.

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