A 22-year-old Connecticut man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges related to several "swatting" incidents - or a hoax intended to get police to respond with tactical units - that occurred last year in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Matthew Tollis of Weatherfield pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in the malicious conveying of false information, namely a bomb threat hoax. He could be sentenced to up to five years in prison, according to the office of U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Deirdre M. Daly

A Sept. 3 police booking photo of Matthew Tollis. Tollis pleaded guilty in New Haven to federal charges related to several false 'swatting' reports in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 15.

Swatting typically involves people alerting police of a bomb in a public place or a gunman holding hostages. Such calls result in police deploying SWAT units and bomb squads and the evacuation of any nearby schools, businesses and residences. The threats are usually delivered over the Internet.

"Swatting incidents have wasted millions of dollars in law enforcement resources and have caused emotional distress for numerous victims," Daly said in a prepared statement.

"This is not a game. We are committed to exposing individuals responsible for these threats and prosecuting them to the full extent of the law," she said.

Investigators linked Tollis to several swatting incidents including an April 3 threat to the admissions office at the University of Connecticut that resulted in a three-hour lockdown of the campus and the deployment of dozens of Connecticut State Police bomb squad, emergency services and SWAT officers to the campus.

He was also linked to similar attacks at Boston University, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, two New Jersey high schools and a high school in Texas.

He was arrested on Sept. 3.

Investigators determined that Tollis was a member of a group of on-line video gamers who called themselves TCOD, an acronym for "TeAM CrucifiX or Die.

Members of the group would communicate over the internet via Microsoft Xbox gaming systems. They would make threats using the Internet based communication service Skype.

According to the FBI affidavit filed in federal court, the group is responsible for several swatting attacks between April 15 and Aug. 18, 20 at Boston University, Harvard University, a private residence in Willimantic, Connecticut, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn.

FBI investigators have determined the founder of the TCOD group is a resident of Scotland, and is working with law enforcement in the United Kingdom to bring that person up on charges.

FBI affidavit against Matthew Tollis uploaded by Patrick Johnson