An Oregon man who terrorized Jewish medical facilities in New York with livestreamed bomb threats has been sentenced to five years in prison, a stark warning against hate-fueled “swatting” and rising antisemitism.
Justice has been served against Domagoj Patkovic, 31, of Oregon, who was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday by the US Department of Justice after admitting to making chilling bomb threats against Jewish medical facilities across New York. Patkovic had pleaded guilty in February to charges including conspiring to make threats and providing false information about explosives.
From May 2021 onwards, Patkovic unleashed a torrent of fear, making six separate threatening calls to historically Jewish hospitals and care centers in Queens and Long Island. In these calls, he chillingly claimed he intended to detonate explosive devices. While these threats ultimately proved to be hoaxes, the consequences were real and immediate: one hospital was forced into a partial evacuation and lockdown in September 2021, throwing patient care and staff safety into chaos.
What makes Patkovic’s actions particularly insidious, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, is that he “livestreamed the calls to others on an online social media and electronic communications platform to amplify his hate-filled actions.” This chilling detail reveals a deliberate attempt to spread panic and incite further hatred.
United States Attorney Joseph Nocella minced no words in condemning Patkovic’s actions. “The defendant endangered patients and diverted precious law-enforcement resources to advance his hateful agenda against people of the Jewish faith,” Nocella stated, emphasizing that Patkovic’s crimes “fed a rising tide of antisemitism in America.”
Nocella underscored the severity of the offense, vowing that his office would continue to “prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law, especially those motivated by hate.” This sentence sends a powerful message that acts of antisemitic terror, even when involving hoaxes, will be met with severe legal consequences, as authorities remain vigilant against the alarming surge in hate crimes targeting vulnerable communities.
