Cornell student Patrick Dai who ‘sent threats to kill Jews’ is seen in mugshot as his parents say he is ‘depressed’ and ‘not in control of his emotions’
- Dai, 21, was booked into the Broome County Jail by U.S. Marshals last night at 8:16 p.m.
- He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Syracuse this morning
- His parents say he is suicidal and cannot control his emotions, but that he is innocent
- Researchers traced his IP address through the forum where threats were made
The Cornell student accused of making anti-Semitic threats in an online forum is Patrick Dai, a “depressed” 21-year-old boy whose parents say he was on the brink of suicide.
Dai was booked into the Broome County Sheriff’s Department yesterday on behalf of the U.S. Marshals. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Syracuse this morning.
Prosecutors traced the forum’s gruesome threats to Dai’s off-campus apartment where he was taken into custody yesterday, and others to the Rochester suburb of Pittsford, where he grew up and where his parents still live.
Patrick Dai, 21, was booked into the Broome County Jail last night at 8:16 p.m. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Syracuse this morning
His professor father – who believes his son is innocent – says his mother was so concerned about him that she was on her way to his house when he was taken into custody.
The 21-year-old is from Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester.
‘My son is in severe depression. Due to the depression he cannot control his emotions properly.
“No, I don’t think he committed the crime,” he said The New York Post.
However, the federal complaint against him states that he admitted to making the threats during an interview with an FBI agent.
“Dai, after receiving warnings from Miranda, admitted that he was the person who used the Internet to post the threatening messages described above,” it reads.
Among several messages left on the school’s Greekrank page — a forum intended for fraternity and sorority reviews — were messages headlined “Eliminate Jewish Life from the Cornell Campus” or “Israel Deserved 10/7.”
In addition to his Cornell IP address, FBI agents also traced some messages Dai posted on the forum to Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester, where he grew up. Above is his parental home
Dai has been charged with posting threats to kill or injure another person through interstate communications, according to the Justice Department.
If convicted, he could serve five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
The threats, posted online last week, roiled the Cornell community.
Jewish students were advised to avoid the kosher dining hall after the threats were made on the Greekrank forum.
The perpetrator used ‘Hamas’ as a username and specifically threatened to attack the dining room and kill Jewish ‘pigs’.
Dai’s parents live in a three-bedroom, $500,000 house in Pittsford. His father is a professor at China’s Tianjin University.
A New York State Police Department cruiser is parked in front of Cornell University’s Center for Jewish Living, in Ithaca, NY, Monday, October 30, 2023