Patterico's Pontifications

6/20/2012

How Ron Brynaert Lured Me Onto the Phone The Night I Was SWATted

Filed under: General,Ron Brynaert — Patterico @ 9:13 pm



As regular readers will remember, during Weinergate, a Boston woman named Jennifer George supposedly filed a report with police claiming that she had been threatened by Lee Stranahan.

That seemed very improbable. Lee concluded at the time that “Jennifer George” must be lying about him.

In a post that generated 3765 comments, I speculated on another possibility: that perhaps Jennifer George really was threatened, but that the threatener had merely pretended to be Stranahan.

Interestingly, Ron Brynaert tweeted something to the same effect on the night of June 30, 2011:

Brynaert also mentioned on the phone that there was a suspicious person with a British accent that I needed to know about. I was very interested in this because I had knew that the caller from Mike Stack’s June 23, 2011 SWATting had been (incorrectly) described by the police as having a British accent.

It is little wonder that I wanted to speak with Ron Brynaert on the phone on the night of June 30, 2011.

I tried to get information from Brynaert about the Stranahan report, and about the man with the British accent. But Brynaert ranted and raved and shouted, and it was almost impossible to get him to answer any questions. (Anyone who has ever spoken with Brynaert on the phone has likely had a similar experience.)

And he was still on the phone with me in the early morning hours of July 1, 2011, when police showed up at my door.

As a reminder, here is a 12-second clip combining the end of my SWATting call with a few seconds from an interview with Ron Brynaert:

UPDATE: Why am I talking about this? I explain in this comment.

19 Responses to “How Ron Brynaert Lured Me Onto the Phone The Night I Was SWATted”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (906cfb)

  2. I keep reading that I am trying to “convict” Brynaert on my blog.

    Nonsense.

    I want my SWATting to be thoroughly investigated.

    I want the perpetrator(s) caught and punished.

    I want all viable leads to be explored.

    I kept silent for months, while (I was told) the case was being investigated, or would be, by this agency or that.

    Now all the investigations into my SWATting have been closed or rejected.

    Of course, there is an active investigation into Erick Erickson’s SWATting, which I believe was carried out by the same person or persons who carried out mine and Mike Stack’s.

    I don’t feel my being silent all those months served any purpose. I want the leads investigated.

    That is why I have been speaking out. It’s that simple.

    Anyone who claims I am trying to convict people on a blog is spreading falsehoods. What good is it to convict someone on a blog?? I want the wrongdoers sent to PRISON.

    All I can do is publicize what happened to me and what evidence I have been able to uncover.

    I have a lot of evidence of harassment towards me and others over the past year. It will take a long time for the full story to be told.

    But don’t tell me I’m trying to convict people on a blog. I’m not. I’m putting facts out there, and urging that a full and thorough criminal investigation take place.

    I don’t believe that has happened yet. I want it to.

    Again: it’s just that simple.

    Patterico (906cfb)

  3. before all this happened I would’ve been afraid to swat someone, thinking I could get in big big trouble

    not impressed with the law enforcement in evidence I must say

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  4. Patterico @ 2:

    Boom.

    Leviticus (102f62)

  5. Yep. Comment #2 is epic. It almost deserves its own post.

    Noodles (3681c4)

  6. Patterico,

    When did the SWATing call end, and when did your call with Brynaert begin?

    Jeremiah (6c8035)

  7. Truly shameful that American citizens would stoop to this, just to silence those they disagree with politically. It’s a terrible way to try to silence conservatives. We can’t let this happen again.

    Thank you for sharing your story ongoing story.

    @PolitixFireball (25fbff)

  8. SWATting call was about a minute long, made at 12:16 a.m., according to the recording I received from the Sheriff’s Department.

    I don’t have records of the call with Brynaert, but I would estimate it was about an hour. That would include the time that I spent in the back of the patrol car, as he was still on the phone when police returned the phone to me. The call with Brynaert encompassed the time the SWATting call would have been made. I don’t specifically remember whether he left to go to the bathroom, or excused himself for any other reason. I can’t rule it in or out at this point. At one point I believed I remembered him excusing himself from the phone for a short period and blaming the phone disruption on hackers, but I can’t be certain of that. I specifically remember him talking about a phone disruption that day and blaming it on hackers, but I can’t remember if it was during that particular call, or when it was, if it occurred.

    Patterico (906cfb)

  9. I’ll note that Brynaert has a) told contradictory stories about what we talked about, and b) clearly lied about what we talked about, given my memory of the call.

    More about that in the future.

    Patterico (906cfb)

  10. Thanks. It’s a significant point, and I wish your memory was more clear.

    Jeremiah (6c8035)

  11. Sure. So do I. It was kind of a chaotic night.

    Patterico (906cfb)

  12. Ah, yah, that’s one definition …

    SPQR (26be8b)

  13. Chaotic? Could have given one a heart attack! What some will do to shut opposition up…

    @PolitixFireball (25fbff)

  14. Blaming phone disruptions on hackers? Not likely. Most sophisticated phone hacking requires a man-in-the-middle component to hack into a specific target’s phone.

    Kaitian (da9520)

  15. Boom goes the dynamite! (wait, that came out wrong)

    GMFWashington (f41359)

  16. The whole episode was bizarre.

    I was accused of being a potential sockpuppet in that megathread, something to this day that amuses me greatly, due to the fact that my own hypotheses about the matter were so bad that some people found them to be purposeful misdirection.

    I’m no Columbo. That is for certain.

    But I am still reading this site and hoping somebody gets to the bottom of it (and presents the Cliff’s Notes version) for everyone someday, while justice is served.

    CausticConservative (b29599)

  17. Sockpuppet.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  18. I see what you did there.

    CausticConservative (b29599)

  19. Heh.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)


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