A man from Ventura County pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to charges stemming from several bomb threats made over the phone last year, including threats made to a Planned Parenthood office on the day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Nishith Tharaka Vandebona, 34, of Oxnard, admitted to one felony count of transmitting threatening communications and one misdemeanor count of “threatened forcible intimidation regarding the obtaining and provision of reproductive health services under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances,” the United States Department of Justice announced.
Vandebona, who was living in Camarillo at the time, admitted to using an anonymous phone number to leave voice messages that contained death threats to multiple Planned Parenthood offices.
The first call was made one day after the Supreme Court reversed the landmark Roe V. Wade decision, which ruled that women had a constitutional right to abortion. The controversial overturning of the decision led to mass protests, calls for Supreme Court Justices to resign, and massive outcry from Roe v. Wade supporters.
Within hours of the ruling, Vandebona used an anonymous number and left a threatening message — including death threats — to a Planned Parenthood Central Coast in the Santa Barbara area, the indictment alleges.
The next day he called another Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles and told a call center specialist “I’m calling to let you know that I’m going to come in there and kill all of you, including your staff and your security. You got it? You’re overdue for an attack,” according to court documents.
Within an hour, he called that office again and allegedly made several death threats, including “I’m gonna come in there and murder your staff,” according to the indictment.
Before calling the Planned Parenthood facilities, in February 2022, Vandebona allegedly called in a bomb threat to the office of Californians for Population Stabilization, a Ventura-based nonprofit organization that advocates for “zero population growth,” primarily through immigration restrictions.
He used the anonymous numbers to make threatening calls to that office. In one incident, he said “I’m gonna come in there and kill all of you, dude. Be careful,” officials said. In another call to the organization that same month, he said “I’m gonna come in there, plant a bomb, and kill as many white Americans as possible. You understand that? Servicemen, families, everybody,” according to the DOJ.
Vandebona initially pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this year, but changed his tune on Monday.
He is due in court on Oct. 2 for his sentencing, at which point he could face a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison for the misdemeanor charge and five years in federal prison for the felony count.
Anyone with information about the case or other criminal threats should contact their local FBI Field Office.