Teen Sought Navy Munitions Career

Standing outside her little brother’s home, where only hours before police carefully removed nearly a dozen homemade pipe bombs, Maria Valencia broke into tears.

Valencia, 28, wondered aloud how her 18-year-old brother--the straight-A student who had just brought home a perfect attendance award, the one who was preparing for a career in the Navy--could now be in jail facing felony charges.

Authorities found about 10 pipe bombs stashed in Jose Carlos Herrera’s bedroom during a search of his parents’ Oxnard home Thursday. The Hueneme High School senior is scheduled to appear in court Monday to answer to charges of possessing explosive devices and bomb-making materials.

It is not believed, however, that Herrera was planning to hurt anyone, authorities said Friday, after interviewing more than 100 of Herrera’s classmates.

“Of course,” Valencia said. “I know, in my heart, he would never hurt anyone.”

But he had, for the past two years, shown a keen interest in bombs, she added. Not because he wanted to blow up any school or any person, she said, but because he hoped someday to become a munitions expert in the Navy, and this was his way of preparing.

“He was thinking about his career,” Valencia said. “He always said, ‘You know, that would be really cool, to do that kind of work, that would be cool.’ ”

It was just last weekend that Valencia took Herrera to the Point Mugu Naval Air Station for the annual air show, where the teenager sought out ammunitions experts to talk about his career choice.

It was a career his family was happy to support, even though they had hoped a young man so bright would first get a traditional college education, becoming the first in his family to do so.

But he wasn’t interested in college, and by his senior year Herrera began talking to Navy recruiters.

Around campus, students teasingly referred to Herrera as “soldier boy,” because he covered his school folders with the word “soldier” and because of what fellow classmates described as a walk that resembled a march, stepping through the halls with a quick gate, head down, and restricting his arms tightly to his sides.

But many also said he was a typical kid who, if he stood out for any reason, stood out for his intelligence. He was well-liked by teachers, a student who never had any serious disciplinary problems at school or any past run-ins with the law, his family and authorities said.

“There were no red flags anywhere,” said Officer Bob Vizcarra, the youth service officer at Hueneme High School.

“He is obviously a very bright student,” added Sgt. Lee Wilcox, who interviewed Herrera after his arrest Thursday. “But without being stereotypical, it’s not unusual for someone to do this to be very bright, to read and find out how to do these things.”

Throughout his interview with investigators, Herrera talked about “a fixation with bombs and military bomb squads,” Wilcox said.

Authorities initially believed that Herrera may have intended to use the bombs at school. A student told police he overheard Herrera talking about a plan to bomb the school.

But after interviewing dozens of Herrera’s classmates, police said Friday they believe that information to be unfounded.

Students told authorities Herrera did not hide his fascination with bomb making. He often videotaped himself blowing up toys, pumpkins, and other household items, using a video he shared with other students at school. One of the students who had seen the videotape tipped off school officials Thursday, authorities said. Investigators have confiscated the videos.

Authorities say Herrera’s mother and step-father knew of their son’s bomb-making efforts and that he told them he was practicing to be a member of the military’s bomb squad. But Valencia denies that, saying “It’s all been a shock.”

Herrera and his parents allowed authorities to search their East Pleasant Valley Road home, where they found several explosives, materials on how to make a bomb, a shot gun, and several BB and pellet guns in the boy’s bedroom. The door to the room, police said, was equipped with an alarm.

Bomb experts for the county Sheriff’s Department will examine the explosives Monday to determine if any or all of the devices are live, Wilcox said.

Herrera was not considered a loner on campus, but he wasn’t a popular student, either. He had a few friends, but mostly he stayed at home on the weekends, eating pizza with the family or playing video games with his young nephew, Valencia said.

She called her younger brother, the youngest of three children, a particularly caring boy, recalling how upset he became when his mother was recently hospitalized for high blood pressure.

“He started crying, and I told him, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ He said, ‘I know, I just hate to see her like this,’ ” Valencia said.

And she remembered how excited her brother became when she gave birth to her own son, making Herrera an uncle.

“I’ll never forget him, his face pressed to the glass to look at the baby,” Valencia said. “If people could have seen him, how excited he was. And he always got so happy when [the baby] would fall asleep in his arms. That’s just the kind of loving person he is.”

Valencia said no one in the family has been able to talk to Herrera since his arrest, but they are especially concerned because he is being housed in an adult jail facility.

They hope to visit Herrera soon, she said, and are eager to let him know his family is still standing strong behind him.

“If you are heartless, then maybe you can just turn around and say, ‘You weren’t raised that way. You know better,’ ” Valencia said. “But that’s not us. We won’t turn our back on him. His family and his friends are behind him 100%.”