Fantasy Football Argument Leads to Bomb Threats and Prison Time for One Man

Fantasy football is serious business for some. In fact, Americans spend an a lot of money each year to manage their own imaginary team from the comfort of their couch. But I think we can all agree that this is going too far when it comes to fantasy football rivalries.

Matthew Gabriel, 25, has pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure in Federal Court and could be locked up for as long as 5 years.

It apparently started over an argument in a fantasy football group text. No word on the actual cause of the argument, but it spurred Gabriel to take some dangerous actions.

Gabriel, knowing that the other tester was studying abroad in Norway, called an anonymous tip line in Norway alleging that the opponent was set to carry out a mass shooting in Norway.

The threat was heavily investigated by the FBI and authorities in Norway and deemed that the threat was not credible after finding and interviewing Gabriel.

While authorities were reviewing the case for possible charges, Gabriel did not learn his lesson. Instead, he made another false hoax claim against another person in the fantasy football chat. Gabriel took a screen shot of the text where the other tester had in jest stated he would be blowing up the University of Iowa, and then sent the screen shot to the university. This threat was also investigated by authorities and found to be bogus.

As you can imagine, authorities were not pleased to find out that Gabriel, in the midst of being investigated for one false claim, had made another.

Gabriel is now facing a maximum possible sentence of 5 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and more than $250,000 in fines.

Wood is host of the Taste of Country Mornings With Wood and Nicole, which can be heard every morning from 6-10AM CT on the Taste of Country app, on local affiliates where available and online at tasteofcountry.com.