A 17-year-old New Jersey resident was sentenced Wednesday in Midland federal court to time served followed by five years probation for making bomb threats to Sul Ross State University, the Big Bend Regional Medical Center in Alpine and threatening the life of a former state representative.
Nicholas Kyle Martino, of the Sewell, Washington Township, was released following the hearing before Senior United States District Judge Robert A. Junell. Martino had been in custody since his arrest Dec. 1, 2016, at his home. Junell referred the matter of restitution to the U.S. Magistrate Judge David Fannin.
The hearing that would determine how much the restitution would be is expected to be scheduled in Alpine within the next three months, or 90 days, federal authorities said in a press statement.
Junell granted Martino’s request to be prosecuted as an adult on Feb. 15 in federal court. Martino entered guilty pleas to four felony counts of interstate threats to injure person before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Counts.
Court records show that Martino engaged in “SWATing schemes,” which is the term used to describe an act of tricking law enforcement or first responders into dispatching firefighters, paramedics and police to a false call.
Martino reportedly admitted to making two false calls to the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 8. 2016 and making a phony bomb threat to SRSU. Two hours later, “Martino followed up with a phone call to the BBRMC threatening to kill everyone in the hospital,” the press release reported.
“Those malicious communications occurred on the same day law enforcement and first responders were responding to an active shooter call at Alpine High School wherein one student received a non-life threatening gunshot wound and the shooter committed suicide,” the release read.
Martino also admitted to communicating threats via Twitter on Sept. 10, 2016 to kill ex-Texas State Rep. Pete Gallego and his family as well as making another bomb threat to SRSU, the press statement read.
