3 Arrested in Glendale Bomb Scare

LA CRESCENTA — Acting on tips from fellow students, police have arrested three eighth-grade boys at Rosemont Middle School in connection with the planting of two devices suspected of being bombs at local schools.

One of the devices has been determined to be a hoax, and the other was probably harmless as well, although police are still awaiting final results from laboratory tests, said Sgt. Rick Young, spokesman for the Glendale Police Department.

“These kids made some dumb judgments and panicked the whole community,” said Young.

Police detained one 15-year-old boy at the end of the school day at Rosemont on Tuesday after a handful of students came to Principal Jerry Watson with information about the incidents, said Vic Pallos, spokesman for the Glendale Unified School District.

After police searched the boy’s home and found what they said was evidence linking him to the incidents, the boy was taken to Eastlake Juvenile Hall where he is being held on suspicion of possession of a simulated explosive device.

The investigation led to two more boys, both 14, who were arrested Wednesday at Rosemont in connection to the incidents.

One has been released to his parents pending a hearing. The other, who was taken into custody by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, was still being questioned late Wednesday.

None of the three has been charged. Prosecutors haven’t decided what if any charges might be filed, Young said. If the boys are charged with possession of a simulated explosive device, they could face a maximum penalty of a year in custody, he said.

The school district, meanwhile, has suspended all three boys and plans to schedule an expulsion hearing, said Pallos.

Police believe the trio, who Young described as good friends, are the only suspects. They told police the devices were “just a prank,” he said. None of the boys has a criminal history, Young said. All are from the La Crescenta area. Their names were not released because they are juveniles.

The first so-called “suspicious explosive device” was found hanging on a door at Rosemont on March 31. Police were called, and a bomb squad detonated it.

On Sunday, a second, smaller device was found hanging on a door at Dunsmore Elementary School, and also detonated by a bomb squad.

But police now say the Dunsmore device, consisting of spent BB gun cartridges, was not an explosive.

The Rosemont device, which was larger, also appeared to contain expended cartridges, although police so far have declined to say whether it too was just a hoax, said Young.

Pallos, of the school district, said schools have been flooded with calls from worried parents asking about the incidents.

“A lot of people here are relieved that the arrests have been made,” he said. “We especially commend the students for coming forward so quickly.”