An Oregon man was arrested at his home and charged in federal court on Tuesday for allegedly threatening to blow up Jewish hospitals and care centers in NYC and Long Island in 2021.
Domagoj Patkovic, 31, of Portland, made threats in at least six separate calls to the medical facilities and on a call with local law enforcement who had responded to a 911 notification from one of the hospitals, according to U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) court documents.
Patkovic is charged with conspiring to make and making threats concerning explosives, conspiring to transmit and transmitting threatening communications and conveying false information concerning explosives.
The DOJ was not able to confirm which hospitals received the threats. Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christie M. Curtis, acting assistant director in charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the charges.
Beginning in May 2021, Patkovic, along with others, made violent calls that included threats to detonate explosive devices at the Jewish facilities. He also live streamed the calls on the online social media message service, Discord.
“As alleged, the defendant and his co-conspirators, motivated by their hatred of Jewish people, targeted Jewish hospitals and care centers in New York City and on Long Island with hoax bomb threats, needlessly endangering patients and staff by creating chaos and alarm,” Peace said.
During one call on May 18, when the assistant director of nursing at a Queens hospital picked up, the caller said he had planted bombs around the facility, and, using an antisemitic slur, stated he wanted to “kill all k—s.”
The employee immediately relayed the information to an NYPD officer who was detailed on-site. Cops took action and swept the 13-floor building to check for explosives, none of which were found.
Similar calls were made throughout the month and again in September.
In another instance, which was live-streamed on Sept. 15, the suspect said to the NYPD 911 call center, “I just called the hospital requesting my f—ing million dollars, or I’m going to blow this k–e f—ing b—h to the sky.”
Officers from the Nassau County Police Department rushed to the scene, which was a Jewish hospital in Nassau County, locked down the facility, and conducted a partial evacuation as officers and security personnel searched the building for bombs without finding any, according to court documents.
In July 2023, Patkovic, during an interview with the FBI, admitted to participating in swatting — the false reporting of an ongoing emergency or threat of violence —- and bomb threat calls with others.
“These alleged actions incited unnecessary hysteria and redirected limited resources to mitigate a false alarm,” Curtis of the FBI said. “The FBI will not tolerate those who utilize hoax bomb threat schemes to satisfy their antisemitic beliefs and endanger the wellbeing of our communities.”
Patkovic also admitted knowledge of at least one bomb threat call to a Jewish medical center on Long Island and shared details with law enforcement related to the call but claimed that he never spoke on the calls, saying that others had recreated his voice through artificial intelligence, court documents revealed.
The defendant will appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim Yu in the U.S. District Court of Oregon later Tuesday.
If convicted, he faces up to 155 years in prison.
