Earlier today in a Brooklyn federal court, Domagoj Patkovic admitted to charges of conspiring to make threats concerning explosives and conveying false information regarding explosives. United States District Judge Ramon E. Reyes presided over the proceedings. Patkovic, who was charged in August 2024, could face up to 15 years in prison upon sentencing.
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, John J. Durham, along with James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge at the FBI's New York Field Office, announced the guilty plea.
"As he admitted today, the defendant intentionally targeted Jewish hospitals and care centers in our District with bomb threats. In doing so, he needlessly endangered patients and staff and diverted critical law enforcement resources from their core mission of keeping our community safe," stated United States Attorney Durham. "We will prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law."
Durham also expressed gratitude towards various agencies including the FBI's New York Field Office, the New York City Police Department, Nassau County Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon for their assistance in this case.
According to indictment details and court filings, starting from May 2021 or earlier, Patkovic and others made anonymous calls threatening violence, including threats to detonate explosives at Jewish hospitals and care centers within New York's Eastern District as well as other locations across the United States.
Patkovic himself issued threats during at least six separate calls to hospitals and once during a call with local law enforcement responding to a 911 alert from one hospital. He broadcasted these calls via an online social media platform. Several times local police conducted bomb sweeps following these threats; notably in September 2021 when a hoax threat led to partial evacuation and lockdown of a Long Island hospital. No explosives were found at any site.
The case is being managed by the National Security & Cybercrime Section of the Office with Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon, Laura Zuckerwise, Andrew D. Reich leading prosecution efforts alongside Trial Attorney James Donnelly from the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Paralegal Specialist Wayne Colon.
Domagoj Patkovic is 31 years old from Portland, Oregon.