2 Arrested in Planting of 10 Fake Bombs

Los Angeles police arrested two alleged white supremacists Thursday on suspicion of planting 10 fake bombs in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, reportedly intended to intimidate minority business owners and rid neighborhoods of nonwhites.

Jeffrey Allen Campbell and Justin Bertone, reputed associates of a group called White Criminals on Dope, are suspected of leaving the devices in front of homes and businesses, mostly in the Valley, beginning in June, police said.

None of the bombs was armed with explosives, authorities said. But the devices appeared sufficiently authentic to fool even seasoned investigators.

“They were very real looking,” said Det. David Reyes of the Los Angeles Police Department’s criminal conspiracy section.

LAPD Lt. George Harris said, “Anyone who has done what they’ve done can build a real bomb if they have the stuff.” But he said there is no evidence so far that the suspects intended to do so.

Police, who were assisted by FBI agents and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said some of the devices were left near minority-owned businesses that had received threatening telephone calls from either Campbell or Bertone.

In one instance, the caller said his purpose was to rid the Sunland-Tujunga area--where most of the fake bombs were planted--of Mexicans and African Americans, authorities said.

A fake bomb planted last month outside a minority-owned convenience store in the 8100 block of Foothill Boulevard in Sunland caused Barbara Santamaria, who lives across the street, to fear for her life and that of her husband, a clerk at the store.

A police officer “started yelling, ‘Open the door, open the door,’ ” said the 19-year-old mother of two. “He said, ‘ There’s a bomb. You’ve got two minutes to get out.’ ”

“Of course, I was scared,” Santamaria said. “They made us scared.”

Using a search warrant, investigators raided Campbell’s home in Burbank at 7 a.m. Thursday, arresting him and Bertone. Authorities seized components similar to those in the fake devices, as well as tools allegedly used to assemble them. Investigators also found several handguns and rifles, an illegal silencer, and methamphetamine and marijuana, apparently for sale, police said.

Campbell, 36, and Bertone, 19, were booked late Thursday on suspicion of making terrorist threats. “We’ve got the right people,” Lt. Harris said.

Campbell, who authorities said has a record of arrests related to illegal drugs and assault, is being held in lieu of $2.52 million bail. Bertone’s bail is $2.5 million.

Reyes said investigators this fall began tracking the pattern of fake bombs that were reported to authorities from pay telephones. The devices, mostly found in the northeast Valley, also were left on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks and in Studio City.

Police used their network of street sources to learn the identities of the two men now in custody.

Bomb squad investigators identified the components used in the bogus devices, leading detectives to the stores where the two men allegedly shopped, Reyes said. Later, some of the business owners who had received telephone threats were played 911 tapes made by police and said they recognized the voices.

Police said Campbell and Bertone are part of a larger, loose-knit group of white supremacists active in the Valley, including the so-called San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods.

Sgt. Walter Bouman, a hate crimes expert for the county Sheriff’s Department, said the term “peckerwood” was first used in the 1960s to denote racial purity and strength among white supremacists. He said there are reportedly several so-called Peckerwood groups in Los Angeles County.

Typically, Bouman said, members are alienated young men from low-income families with little or no college education.

“Most of them can’t get along with other people, so when they get recruited they start blaming everything on the ‘mud people’ and the ‘Jewish conspiracy,’ ” he said. “They use groups like these as an excuse for their problems.”

A recent national report by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles said Peckerwoods have distinguished themselves from traditional skinheads by recruiting inside prisons and by raising funds trading in illegal drugs and guns.

“This is the next evolution of skinheads,” said T.J. Leyden, a former recruiter for the White Aryan Resistance, who now speaks out against hate groups. He said the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods were started by former prison inmates in the early 1990s, and now have as many as 150 members.

Local white supremacist groups are the subject of a separate but related investigation by the Los Angeles Task Force on Terrorism, which includes members of the LAPD, FBI and ATF.

“We are looking into possible federal violations involving hate crimes in the San Fernando Valley,” said one task force member who asked not to be identified.

The devices allegedly left by Campbell and Bertone prompted evacuations and street closures by bomb squad investigators.

Shortly after midnight Sept. 24, for example, police woke up residents of the 152-unit Tara Hill Apartments in Northridge, banging on doors and asking people to leave, said Michelle Starr, an assistant manager of the complex. Police had received a 911 call warning of a bomb left in a package near the building, largely occupied by minorities, she said.

“They were banging with flashlights. They told us we had to leave because of the possibility of a bomb,” Starr said. “It was pretty frightening.”

The bomb squad arrived at the complex in the 10400 block of Lindley Avenue and, using a mechanical robot, X-rayed a box. Police told Starr that X-rays showed the box contained what appeared to be a paint can attached to a clock and two sticks of dynamite.

The bomb squad detonated the device and later found that the “dynamite” was actually two flares, Starr said.

“You could hear [the explosion] all the way to White Oak [Avenue],” about six blocks away, she said.

On Oct. 9, residents lived the nightmare all over again. Police received another bomb threat at 6 p.m. and found another package at the entrance of the gated complex, Starr said.

Some of the residents were so upset that they moved, she said, noting: “The tenants were, like, ‘I’m outta here.’ ”

Later in October, people on their way to a Halloween party in Hollywood were turned away by police after authorities found a device under a car nearby.

“They cordoned off the whole street,” said a resident of the house where the party was, who asked that his name not be used. “They sent everyone home.”

Times staff writers Solomon Moore, Jose Cardenas, Karima Haynes, Tom Schultz and T. Christian Miller and special correspondent Claire Vitucci contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Areas where fake bombs were found:

1. 12100 Blk. of Ventura Blvd.

2. 10400 Blk. of Lindley Ave.

3. 10400 Blk. of Lindley Ave.

4. 13600 Blk. of Ventura Blvd.

5. 10100 Blk. of Tujunga Canyon Blvd.

6. 6600 Blk. of Olcott St.

7. 8400 Blk. of Foothill Blvd.

8. 8100 Blk. of Foothill Blvd.

9. 10800 Blk. of McVine Ave.

10. 2000 Blk. of Whitley Ave.*

* Not shown on map

Source: LAPD