A website known for posting mug shots and court documents of arrested celebrities is purporting to have "outed" two Canadian residents as ringleaders of an online network of pranksters responsible for "cruel and outrageous hoaxes."

The Smoking Gun says an unemployed 25-year-old Windsor, Ont., man founded the Internet group known as "Pranknet" that is responsible for "vandalism, threats, harassment, impersonation, hacking, and other assorted felonies" targeting Americans.

His online handle is Dex and his "second-in-command" is a 51-year-old Toronto man who calls himself Hempster, the website says. Posing as hotel employees, emergency workers and fire alarm officials, Pranknet members have "prodded unwitting victims to destroy hotel rooms and lobbies, set off sprinkler systems, activate alarms" and damage restaurants, the website says.

A number of the pranks were broadcast "live" on the Internet, says Smoking Gun. Its scathing article provides links to some of them.

Another link is to an Orange County (Florida) Sheriff's Office bulletin warning of a "disturbing trend" of pranksters duping hotel guests to commit destructive acts.

One incident involved a Pennsylvania hotel guest who was woken up by a caller and told a ruptured gas line required urgent precautions. The guest was told to smash a window as well as the room's television screen "since the tube contained an electrical charge that could spark an explosion."

The guest complied, using the toilet's tank lid as the caller suggested. When the lid broke, the caller said to toss the TV out the window instead. "Stepping gingerly around glass shards, the guest complied," Smoking Gun says.

The website has a photo and comments by Dex, who called police when two Smoking Gun reporters showed up at the Windsor, Ont. home he shares with his mother.

Smoking Gun quotes Dex as saying the hoodwinked individuals were "responsible for their own actions" and were "sheep" with "no brains of their own."

When contacted by the Star, spokesmen for the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice would neither confirm nor deny if a Pranknet investigation is underway.