Back in 2023, “assholes” swatted Ned Luke, the actor who portrays Michael in Grand Theft Auto 5, while he was in the midst of a Thanksgiving livestream. Earlier this week, Luke revealed that at least one of those assholes is going to jail, and said more are likely to follow.
“Don’t drop the soap in the shower douchebag,” Luke wrote in a message posted on Instagram, alongside a photo of a letter from the US Department of Justice informing him of the resolution of the case. “Won’t be swatting anyone anytime soon…and they’re coming for the ones he ratted out as well.”
Well, it’s not the classiest hey hey hey goodbye ever, but Luke has a right to be angry. Swatting—the act of reporting a violent crime in progress at someone’s house, with the goal of triggering a massive police response against an unsuspecting victim—isn’t just inconvenient and annoying, it’s massively dangerous, even when police don’t kick in the door like they’re hunting Heymar Reinhardt.
For example, 28-year-old Andrew Finch of Wichita, Kansas was shot and killed by police during a 2017 swatting after he stepped out on his front porch to see what the commotion was about. Tyler Barriss, who initiated that swatting, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the killing.
This has been an ongoing problem for Luke. Shortly after that 2023 incident, when people on X blamed Rockstar for exposing his personal information, Luke said the studio had nothing to do with it: “These assholes leaked my private info years ago and have been doing this shit since. Anyone’s info is available online if you are sick enuff to really wanna find it.”
Videos on YouTube show him being swatted multiple times; in one, posted in December 2025, police enter the room and tell him, “You’re getting swatted again.” So you can understand why he’d indulge in a bit of angry glee to see at least a beginning to the end of it.
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Shortly after that incident, Luke posted a letter from the DoJ informing him of the sentencing hearing for the defendant in the case, saying that “many more names [were] discovered and provided.”
The latest letter shared by Luke doesn’t indicate whether it was the 2023 incident or one of the others—or some combination—that resulted in the charges and plea. The defendant, whose name is redacted, will be imprisoned for four years, followed by three years of supervised release.
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