Domagoj Patkovic, 31, an Oregon man who pleaded guilty in February to threatening Jewish hospitals in Queens and Long Island, N.Y., faced up to 15 years in prison for conspiring to make threats and conveying false information about explosives. He was instead sentenced to 60 months, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Beginning at least as early as May 2021, Patkovic made six separate calls to Jewish hospitals and care centers in New York, threatening the institutions and stating his intent to detonate explosive devices.
Patkovic “livestreamed the calls to others on an online social media and electronic communications platform to amplify his hate-filled actions,” stated the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
“The defendant endangered patients and diverted precious law-enforcement resources to advance his hateful agenda against people of the Jewish faith,” stated U.S. attorney Joseph Nocella. “His actions fed a rising tide of antisemitism in America.”
He said his office will continue “to prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law, especially those motivated by hate, and those targeting vulnerable communities in hospitals and care centers.”
In September 2021, Patkovic’s bomb threat, which turned out to be a hoax, resulted in a partial evacuation and lockdown of an entire hospital on Long Island. No explosive devices were found in reported locations.
