A man who threatened to torture a former boss and colleagues and hoarded a host of weapons including hunting knifes, a samurai sword, crossbows and ammonia has been jailed for four years and 10 month.
Wood Green Crown Court heard how Lukas Vongyer, 40 (21.12.75) of Wellesley Road, Gospel Oak, Camden compiled a “target list” of former employers and other people he felt had wronged him. He would then inundate them with emails containing racist abuse and threats of torture and rape. He also carried out cyber attacks on their business websites – causing the sites to crash repeatedly.
FALCON – the Met Police’s cyber crime and fraud team – investigated a series of cyber attacks in March 2015, however, the more sinister aspect of the attacks came to light when the victims were sent anonymous blackmail threats by email.
Specialist FALCON officers then carried out extensive analysis of emails and other data, which identifed Vongyer as the perpetrator. On 13 May 2015, FALCON detectives assisted by officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit executed a search warrant at Vongyer’s flat.
Vongyer was arrested at the flat where a haul of weapons and racist material was found. This included:
= detailed plans for racial cleansing, written and sketched by Vongyer
= freshly laundered camouflage clothing and boots, in sealed packaging
= a handwritten “target list” featuring the names of his victims
= books detailing how to make bombs
= a squeezy lemon bottle containing ammonia – believed to be intended for squirting the acid at victims
= a high-powered air rifle
= a hunting knife, a second knife and a samurai sword
= arrows for crossbows
= a book about creating false identities
= freshly laundered camouflage clothing and boots, in sealed packaging
= numerous posters featuring racist comments
Officers seized Vongyer’s computer and found it to contain videos depicting extreme acts of violence; internet searches on Vongyer’s victims, cyber attacks and how to make bombs; chat room entries in which – acting under an alias – he admitted carrying out one of the cyber attacks; a false driving licence on his computer which he used to open a Bitcoin account to be used for dark web transactions; and evidence that he had written and sent the abusive emails.
Enquiries also established that Vongyer also set up an email account similar to that of one of his victims, and used it to send an email outlining plans to kill US President Barack Obama. Police believe he did this in the hope that his victim would be targeted by US secret services.
Detectives found that, in some cases, Vongyer demanded a ransom be paid for him to stop the cyber attacks and not carry out the violent assaults on them and their loved ones.
Vongyer was found sentenced on Monday, 21 December, at Wood Green Crown Court to:
= Racially aggravated harassment with fear of violence
= Four counts of unauthorised act to a computer
= Blackmail
= Two counts of harassment with fear of violence
= Forgery
He had pleaded guilty to the above charges on 23 October.
Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Ben Hobbs of FALCON, said: “Vongyer felt he had been wronged by his victims but his actions were not those of a disgruntled employee.
“He sent vile, racist emails threatening extreme violence against his victims and sometimes typed their home addresses in the emails to make the threats even more real. These emails left his victims feeling sick and terrified for their lives.
“It seems, from what we found in his flat, that he had put considerable time and effort into imagining what he saw as revenge against people who had employed him as many as 10 years ago. Thankfully, Vongyer never followed through with his threats.”
