A 31-year-old Oregon man admitted Wednesday that he targeted Jewish hospital and care centers on Long Island in a series of “dangerous” swatting and bomb threat calls, federal prosecutors said.
Domagoj Patkovic pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to make threats and conveying false information and now faces up to 15 years in prison, prosecutors said in a press release.
“As he admitted today, the defendant intentionally targeted Jewish hospitals and care centers in our District with bomb threats,” John Durham, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
“In doing so, he needlessly endangered patients and staff and diverted critical law enforcement resources from their core mission of keeping our community safe.
“We will prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to prosecutors, Patkovic was part of a crew of troublemakers who began making anonymous threatening calls to Jewish hospitals and facilities on Long Island in May 2021 — and livestreamed the hoaxes on social media and electronic devices.
The calls sent cops scrambling to the facilities — and in one case in September 2021 authorities were forced to evacuate and lock down an entire Long Island hospital.
“The defendant himself made threats in at least six separate calls to hospitals and on a call with local law enforcement who had responded to a 911 notification from one of the hospitals,” the release said.
Patkovic, who lives in Portland, was arrested in August and hauled to New York to face the charges.
The calls consisted of “violent threats” and “threats to detonate explosive devices,” prosecutors said.
The US Attorney’s Office did not identify the facilities that were targeted.
