Domagoj Patkovic, of Oregon, threatened to detonate explosives in Jewish facilities on Long Island, NYC, feds say

An Oregon man accused of threatening to blow up Jewish health care facilities in 2021, including a Nassau County hospital that had to be locked down and partially evacuated, was charged with conspiring to make bomb threats and other crimes in a 23-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors said Domagoj Patkovic, 31, and others threatened to detonate explosives during anonymous phone calls to hospitals and other Jewish facilities throughout the United States. Patkovic, of Portland, made at least six threatening calls to medical facilities on Long Island and in New York City between May and September 2021, according to court documents.

"The defendant and his co-conspirators, motivated by their hatred of Jewish people, targeted Jewish hospitals and care centers in New York City and on Long Island with hoax bomb threats, needlessly endangering patients and staff by creating chaos and alarm," said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Patkovic livestreamed the calls on Discord, a social media site popular with the far-right, federal prosecutors said in court filings. After vowing to blow up the Nassau hospital, Patkovic repeated the threat to an NYPD 911 operator investigating the call — and then turned the camera on himself, identifying him as the perpetrator.

Patkovic was arrested at his home early Tuesday and is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Oregon later in the day, authorities said. Prosecutors did not say why Patkovic allegedly targeted places on Long Island and New York City.

Patkovic's attorney, Chandra Peterson, of the Federal Defenders of Oregon, declined to comment on the indictment.

Prosecutors have not identified the hospital allegedly threatened by Patkovic.

According to court documents, the phone operator at the Nassau hospital received a call on Sept. 15, 2021, from a man who identified himself as "Abrahimavich." The caller said he had placed C-4 explosives in maintenance closets at the hospital and threatened to blow up the operator and the hospital. Personnel at the NYPD call center called the originating number and spoke to a man who acknowledged he was "Abrahimavich," and admitted making the threatening call to the Long Island hospital. The court papers included a screenshot of Patkovic.

Nassau County police locked down the hospital and conducted a partial evacuation, prosecutors said. No explosives were found.

About a half-hour earlier, Patkovic told personnel at a Jewish hospital in Queens that he had placed backpacks with C-4 around the building. NYPD officers searched the building and did not find explosives.

Patkovic also called in bomb threats in 2021 to Jewish health care facilities in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, prosecutors allege.

The court papers said Patkovic contacted the FBI in 2023 to provide information about an individual with whom he had a dispute. During a July 21, 2023 interview, Patkovic admitted he and others had made bomb threats and participated in "swatting," falsely reporting a threat of violence to prompt a response from law enforcement. He also allegedly threatened to kill an acquaintance.

Patkovic told the FBI he was aware of a threat to a Long Island hospital and shared details about it with investigators, but he denied making the call. He told agents others had used artificial intelligence to recreate his voice.

Law enforcement officials also obtained a photograph, included in court documents, that shows Patkovic making the Nazi salute over an unconscious man.