Perpetrator of Bomb Hoax Is Sentenced
A Signal Hill body shop owner who threatened to blow up 5,000 pounds of explosives near Paramount Studios last January--forcing thousands to evacuate neighborhoods in and around Hollywood--was sentenced Wednesday to five years’ probation and psychiatric counseling.
In addition, Abram Nacham, 65, must pay a sum of money still to be determined, authorities said. The money most likely would go to law enforcement agencies and KCAL-TV Channel 9, said Nacham’s attorney, Steven Cron.
Station employees evacuated their offices and had to broadcast out of borrowed space during the Jan. 25 incident, which lasted more than seven hours before officials confirmed it was a hoax.
Nacham parked a truck in front of KCAL-TV, unfurled a banner that proclaimed “Don’t shoot. 5,000 lbs. of dynamite,” and accused the American Automobile Assn. of damaging the reputation of his body shop, California 21.
In November, Nacham pleaded no contest to one felony charge of making a false bomb threat.
“He has been examined by so many psychiatrists and psychologists,” Cron said. “He had, in essence, a temporary break with reality.”
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