Juvenile charged in Ashton Kutcher 'swatting' prank

A 12-year-old who allegedly made prank calls to police that in one incident sent officers rushing to actor Ashton Kutcher's home was charged Thursday with making false bomb threats and other counts related to "swatting."

The term "swatting" refers to prank calls reporting a violent crime with the aim of earning a tactical police response that may include a SWAT team.

The incident at Kutcher's home on Arrowhead Drive occurred in early October. Police received the report through a TTY device, generally used by deaf people to type text over the telephone, and responded as if it were a true emergency.

They briefly held some workers there at gunpoint before reaching Kutcher and concluding it was a hoax.

The 12-year-old, whose name is not being released because of his age, also allegedly made a prank call to police about a week after the Kutcher incident, saying there was an emergency at a Wells Fargo Bank on Wilshire Boulevard, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. 

The boy is scheduled to be arraigned in Eastlake Juvenile Court on Friday and will face two felony counts each of making false bomb threats and computer intrusion, the district attorney's office said.

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-- Ari Bloomekatz

Photo: LAPD officers on Arrowhead Drive in the Hollywood Hills on Oct. 3, 2012, where they were investigating a hoax connected to a reported home–invasion robbery call at a residence owned by actor Ashton Kutcher. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times