Domagoj Patkovic, of Portland, Oregon, pleads guilty to orchestrating bomb threats and swatting incidents on LI and NYC, federal prosecutors say
Domagoj Patkovic, 31, of Portland, Oregon. Credit: USANYE
An Oregon man pleaded guilty Wednesday to orchestrating hoax bomb threats and swatting incidents on Long Island and in New York City that targeted Jewish hospitals, authorities said.
Domagoj Patkovic, 31, of Portland, Oregon, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiring to make threats concerning explosives and conveying false information concerning explosives.
Patkovic's attorney, James Darrow, declined to comment.
When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Patkovic faces up to 15 years in prison, prosecutors said.
John J. Durham, interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and 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," Durham said in a statement. "We will prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law."
In September 2021, a hoax bomb threat prosecutors said was perpetuated by Patkovic "resulted in a partial evacuation and lockdown of an entire hospital on Long Island," prosecutors said.
Patkovic livestreamed the calls on social media, prosecutors said.
From at least as early as May 2021, Patkovic and others made anonymous phone calls "in which they made violent threats, including threats to detonate explosive devices, to Jewish hospitals and care centers within the Eastern District of New York, among other targets throughout the United States," prosecutors said in a news release.
Patkovic made threats in at least six calls, prosecutors said.
No explosive devices were found in any of the locations where the hoax calls indicated they would be, prosecutors said.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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