Domagoj Patkovic, 31, was arrested in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday and charged with making multiple bomb threats against Jewish hospitals in New York beginning in May 2021.
“On at least one occasion in September 2021, the hoax bomb threat resulted in a partial evacuation and lockdown of an entire hospital on Long Island,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. “No explosive devices were ultimately found in any of the locations.”
Per the eight-page indictment, which was filed on Aug. 5 and recently unsealed, Patkovic is accused of threatening Jewish hospitals in New York City and Long Island. He is accused of calling a hospital on May 18, 2021, and saying that “bombs are all over your facility” and, using a derogatory antisemitic term, said that Jews “are gonna go skyrocket up into the sky for Allah.”
Patkovic allegedly live-streamed six calls that he made to six hospitals. “On several occasions, local police responded to the scene and conducted bomb sweeps,” per the U.S. Justice Department.
He faces up to 155 years in prison.
Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Patkovic and his co-conspirators were allegedly “motivated by their hatred of Jewish people” when they “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.”
