Judging by SQUAT's recent thread and Skuzzy's explanation of how the in game muting works, I am pretty sure that Debrody was either the victim of the automatic profanity mute OR the mass .report function (5 .reports, regardless of their validity, will get you muted)
The whole 'mods abusing their powers' thing seems to get blown way out of proportion
It's possible that my experience was as you describe, a possible mass report, but I doubt it, not considering all I did was parrot back to the person in my case exactly what they had just called me a moment earlier... and the mute happened in a matter of seconds, like someone was just waiting for me to respond.
I really could care less, I don't let it bother me... but the mods are humans, and subject to bias and their own opinions just like anyone else.