Attempted bombing: James Luca sentenced to 9 years for lighting propane tanks in front of Social Services department in Uniondale

A North Merrick father who planted bombs at the Department of Social Services in Uniondale because he was angered over his child-custody agreement for his four children was sentenced to 9 years behind bars on Tuesday in Nassau County Court.

James Luca, 47, who pleaded guilty in June to criminal possession of a weapon, obstructing government duties with a bomb, has a long history with the justice system, according to prosecutors.

This wasn’t the first bomb that Luca had planted, according to court records. In February 2023, upset with his ex-wife over access to his children, he donned a Halloween mask to hide his identity and detonated an explosive on his wife’s car, shattering the windshield, prosecutors said. On a previous occasion, he drove a nail into the tire of her car, because he blamed Child Protective Services for revoking his visitation rights with his children, records show. 

Luca also pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges in other pending cases, including first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of grand larceny, several counts of mortgage fraud, identity theft, possessing forged records and related counts.

Video surveillance cameras caught Luca and his co-conspirator, Jayson Anthony Reyes, 26, placing a 20-pound propane tank and a 10-pound camping propane tank outside the Social Services at 60 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. just before 2 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2024, according to prosecutors.

While Reyes, an auto body shop worker, stood watch, Luca lobbed lit flares at the improvised explosive devices to ignite them, according to District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

Failing to cause the explosion that he intended, he and Reyes got back in their car and drove to East Meadow, where they abandoned the car on Warren Street.

Luca also attempted to steal the home of a relative by changing the deed into his name and forging loan paperwork to get a $410,000 mortgage on the property, records show. He defaulted on the loan, putting the relative $600,000 in debt.

At the same time, Luca opened an American Express business and personal credit cards in the same relative’s name, prosecutors said, and ran up $200,000 in debt on the card.

If that wasn’t enough, the North Merrick man also opened up PSEG accounts under another relative's name on three homes, including his own, prosecutors said.

“James Luca is a dangerous man whose unhinged actions created panic at the Department of Social Services and terrorized public servants in our county," Donnelly said in a statement. “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."

Luca’s attorney, Brian Griffin, did not respond to a request for comment.