Teens Face 4 Charges on Bombs, Guns

Prosecutors charged two Anaheim eighth-graders with four counts of possessing illegal explosives after police caught them with an arsenal of pipe bombs, guns and ammunition last week, authorities said Tuesday.

Detectives are still trying to determine if the boys’ parents knew about the cache of weapons, but “at this time there is insufficient evidence to file charges on any of the parents,” said Sgt. Joe Vargas, spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department.

The youths, a 13- and 14-year-old who attend South Junior High in Anaheim, will be tried as juveniles, said Kevin Smith, the Orange County deputy district attorney handling the case.

The boys have been charged with conspiracy to construct an explosive device, possession of an explosive device, possession of materials to construct an explosive device and possession of a destructive device on school grounds, Smith said.

Both eight-graders denied the charges during a Juvenile Court hearing Monday, Smith said. During the proceeding, a judge also ordered them to remain in custody in Juvenile Hall, Smith said.

Detectives questioned several of the boys’ close friends to see if others may have been involved, but found nothing to support charging anyone else, Vargas said.

During searches of the boys’ homes a week ago, police found a pipe bomb, a British military surplus rifle, a .45-caliber handgun, several large-capacity magazines and a crude bomb of gunpowder and BBs wrapped in duct tape.

In the 13-year-old’s room, detectives also found Nazi paraphernalia, hand-crafted swastikas and literature on white supremacy. Although the items might be mentioned in the prosecution’s case, there has been no evidence uncovered that indicates the boys were involved in hate crimes, Smith said.

Some of the recovered firearms apparently had been stolen in a burglary near the boys’ neighborhood, police said. Vargas said that incident still is under investigation.

Police were tipped off about the arsenal when a student at South Junior High told a school administrator about the weapons.

Vargas said there was no evidence that the boys were targeting any person or had plans to attack their school.