A North Merrick man was sentenced on December 16 to nine years in prison for multiple charges, including plotting to attack the Nassau County Department of Social Services (NCDSS) building last September with an explosive device he placed at the building’s doors.
On September 17, 2024, at approximately 1:42 a.m., James Luca left his home on Van Nostrand Avenue in North Merrick. Approximately 10 minutes later, Luca and a co-defendant met up on Warren Street and both got into a single car. They drove to 60 Charles Lindberg Boulevard, where the NCDSS is located.
While his co-defendant acted as a lookout, Luca placed one 20-pound propane tank and another one-pound camping propane tank at the doors of the building with a torch on top of the tanks. Surveillance video recovered from the scene showed Luca attempting to throw lit flares at the homemade device to ignite it. However, the device did not ignite.
Luca and his co-defendant then left and drove back to East Meadow. They abandoned the car they drove on Warren Street and entered the other car that was left on the street earlier that morning. The pair then drove back to Luca’s house.
The device was discovered later that morning by the NCDSS Director of Investigations who immediately alerted police.
The Nassau County Police Department’s Arson and Bomb Squad, the Uniondale Fire Department, and the Nassau County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the scene, evacuated the building, and secured the homemade bomb.
As police continued to investigate the incident, they discovered another 20-pound propane tank a short distance from the scene and the abandoned vehicle in East Meadow with additional road flares located inside of the car.
Luca and his co-defendant were arrested on October 3, 2024, by detectives of the Nassau County Police Department.
Luca also pleaded guilty in June 2025 to placing an explosive device on his ex-wife’s car at her home in North Merrick and detonating it, shattering her windshield in February 2023, and causing damage to her vehicle on another occasion in January 2024.
Additionally, Luca pleaded guilty to a residential mortgage fraud scheme and an identity theft scam, in which he stole property from a relative by forging loan paperwork and a deed. Once he fraudulently changed the home’s ownership, Luca obtained a $410,000 mortgage on the property. Both the fraudulently obtained loan and mortgage went into foreclosure due to nonpayment, leaving the relative with more than $600,000 in debt.
Luca also opened American Express personal and business credit cards using the same relative’s personal information and ran up more than $200,000 in unpaid debt. Luca also pleaded guilty to another scam in which the defendant pretended to be a different relative and used that relative’s personal information and credit to turn on PSEG Long Island service at three properties in East Meadow, including his own residence.
Luca, 47, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2025, before Judge Terence Murphy to charges of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the First Degree (a Class B violent felony) and Obstructing of Governmental Duties by Means of a Bomb, Destructive Device, Explosive, or Hazardous Substance (a Class D felony) in satisfaction of the indictment charging him with the attempted bombing of NCDSS.
Separately, to satisfy additional pending cases, Luca pleaded guilty to another count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the First Degree, two counts of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and four counts of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree (all Class E felonies), Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second Degree (a Class C felony), Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Third Degree, two counts of Forgery in the Second Degree, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree and four counts of Identity Theft in the First Degree (all Class D felonies). He was sentenced today to nine years in prison and five years post-release supervision.
“James Luca is a dangerous man whose unhinged actions created panic at the Department of Social Services and terrorized public servants in our county,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Time after time, this defendant chose criminality, engaging in another attempted bombing, mortgage fraud, identity theft, and other crimes even before his twisted plan was put into action. This is not a man who should be free to walk our streets. He belongs behind bars, and that is where he will be for nearly a decade after today’s sentencing because of my office and our law enforcement partner’s diligent work.”