Portland Man Sentenced for Orchestrating Threats That Forced Hospital Evacuations

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal court in Brooklyn, NY, sentenced a Portland, Oregon man, 31-year-old Domagoj Patkovic, to five years in prison for a swatting and bomb threats scheme targeting Jewish hospitals in New York City in Long Island. One of the hospitals was locked down and partially evacuated after a threat was made.

Oregonian Sentenced For Bomb Threat Hoaxes To Jewish Hospitals

Court documents indicate that, starting at least as early as May 2021, Patkovic and others made anonymous phone calls making violent threats- including threats to detonate explosive devices at various targets throughout the US, including Jewish hospitals and care centers within the Eastern District of New York.

Patkovic made threats in at least six separate calls to hospitals and another to local law enforcement responding to a 911 call from one of the hospitals. Local police responded to the scenes and conducted bomb sweeps on several occasions, but no explosive devices were ultimately found in any of the locations.

Patkovic also livestreamed the calls to others on an online social media and electronic communications platform to amplify his hate-filled actions and feed a rising tide of antisemitism in America.

The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella, Jr.,  said, “The defendant endangered patients and diverted precious law enforcement resources to advance his hateful agenda against people of the Jewish faith.” 

Novella confirmed that his office will continue to prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law. Patkovic was sentenced by United States District Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. to 60 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to make threats and conveying false information about explosives.