A former Cornell University student has pleaded guilty to posting online threats against Jewish students on campus.
Patrick Dai, 21, a junior at Cornell University and originally from Pittsford, New York, pleaded guilty today to posting threats to kill or injure another person using interstate communications.
Dai made the threats on October 28 and 29, 2023, on the Cornell section of an online discussion forum.
The posts included threats to ‘shoot up 104 west’ (a dining hall at Cornell University that caters predominantly to Kosher diets and is next to the Cornell Jewish Center), ‘bomb jewish house,’ ‘stab’ and ‘slit the throat’ of any Jewish man he saw on campus, rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish women he saw, and behead any Jewish babies.
‘This defendant is being held accountable for vile, abhorrent, antisemitic threats of violence levied against members of the Cornell University Jewish community,’ said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
‘In the elevated threat environment that we have seen since Oct. 7th, we have been vigilant and stand ready to hold perpetrators of hate crimes accountable. Antisemitic threats of violence are unacceptable in our society, and we will not tolerate this conduct.’
Dai faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, restitution to victims, and a maximum of three years of supervised release. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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