Man charged with making false bomb threats against Jewish hospitals and health centers across New York

CNN
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An Oregon man accused of targeting several Jewish hospitals and health centers in New York and Long Island with fake bomb threats was arrested Tuesday on federal charges, prosecutors said.

Domagoj Patkovic, 31, of Portland, Oregon, is charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to manufacture and make threats relating to explosives, conspiracy to transmit and transmit threatening communications and transmitting false information relating to explosives, according to an indictment filed by prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York.

Patkovic allegedly made at least six violent and threatening phone calls to Jewish hospitals and a network of care centers between May and September 2021. In those calls, Patkovic said he planted bombs at the facilities and threatened to detonate them in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island, while using anti-Semitic slurs, according to the indictment.

According to court documents, he allegedly live-streamed the threatening calls to other people on the servers of the online messaging and social media service Discord.

“As alleged, the defendant and his co-conspirators, motivated by their hatred of the Jewish people, targeted Jewish hospitals and health centers in New York City and Long Island with false bomb threats, needlessly endangering patients and staff by creating chaos and alarm,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement. “Our top priority is ensuring that all members of our community are protected, and we will use every resource possible to prosecute bomb threats and dangerous enforcement operations to the fullest extent of the law.”

Local police responded to several death threats from Patkovic and conducted bomb sweeps in buildings, according to a statement. A call in September prompted police to partially evacuate and lock down a Long Island hospital, the statement said. No explosives were ever recovered.

CNN has reached out to Patkovic's defense attorney for comment.

“These alleged actions have caused unnecessary hysteria and diverted limited resources to mitigate a false alarm,” FBI New York Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis said in a statement. “The FBI will not tolerate those who use false bomb threats to further their anti-Semitic beliefs and endanger the well-being of our communities.”

Patkovic will appear Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Oregon, where prosecutors will ask Judge Youlee Yim Yu to detain him pending trial, according to court documents. If detained, Patkovic will then be transported by the U.S. Marshal Service to Brooklyn, where he will be arraigned in federal court, according to a spokesperson.

Patkovic faces up to 155 years in prison if convicted.