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How Does A Blind Teenage “Swatter” Get 11 Years In Jail?

3:00PM August 25, 2009 | Dan Nosowitz

Matt Weigman, “a fat, lonely blind kid”, received an 11-year jail sentence at age 19 for using the 911 phone service to harass and attack his enemies (including the FBI!). But how does a kid come to such a fate?

It’s a fascinating story—growing up poor, blind, picked-on, with an awful home life and no social outlet, Weigman latched onto party lines as a way to be somebody else. That somebody turned out to be vindictive, crass, exploitative, manipulative and without conscience, but also with a unique and incredible set of skills. The kid pretty much had AT&T, Verizon and an FBI investigative team wrapped around his finger, all from his bedroom in East Boston, and you sort of get the sense that had he not had a bit of a breakdown, he might never have been caught. Read the full article at Rolling Stone. [Rolling Stone]


Comments

  • Daniel

    August 26, 2009 at 10:24 PM

    What did the poor blind kid get for christmas? 11 years jail!

  • Tom Jones

    October 11, 2010 at 2:14 PM

    A lot of the people using these party-lines are mentally ill, when they are crossed they play music or blow down the phone to drown out the other users chat. I crossed one of these losers more than 10 years ago on the now defunct Velvet Underground in the UK and he still calls me and belches down my phone.

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