Teen Who Had Bomb Material Is Arrested

A 16-year-old Irvine girl was arrested Friday after police found flammable chemicals and Internet-supplied “bomb recipes” stashed in the closet of her bedroom.

The girl, who was not identified, told police the bottles of gasoline and petroleum-based material were to be used in an amateur film project she was working on, Irvine Police Sgt. Rick Handfield said. A scene apparently involves a bicycle burning in the desert, he said.

“She had no big plans to hurt anyone that we can find out,” Handfield said, adding that detectives still are interviewing the girl’s friends about her explanation. It is not illegal to possess the kind of chemicals found in the girl’s room unless the suspect intends to create bombs or explosives, he said.

About 20 neighbors at the Rancho San Joaquin apartment complex on Pergola were evacuated Wednesday when the girl’s mother called police and reported smelling chemicals in the home.

Investigators found 13 bottles of flammable liquids and printed “how-to” information on making bombs and explosives, which prompted the Orange County Fire Authority, a bomb squad and Irvine police to clear a 100-foot area around the unit.

The girl was not home at the time and did not return until Friday, when the apartment manager spotted her and called police.

At least four other Orange County teenagers have been arrested in the last year on suspicion of possessing bomb-making materials, including two Anaheim eighth-grade friends accused of setting off a pipe bomb at the school and keeping guns and ammunition hidden in their rooms. The case came one month after the school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and echoed the guns, bombs and Nazi sympathies found there.

Two Canyon High School boys also were arrested in Anaheim last spring on suspicion of making bomb threats on the Internet.

Neighbors of those boys, as with those who live near the 16-year-old Irvine girl, said they would be surprised if it turns out that the teen was involved in something illegal.

“I would never describe her as a loner or shy,” said upstairs neighbor Christy Sheetz, 30. “She was a normal, sweet teenager.”

Sheetz said the girl was considerate and generous to her neighbors. Two weeks ago, the girl gave Sheetz a spider fern she had planted, said Sheetz, who from time to time would talk to the youth about music and school.

“She never said anything negative like, ‘I hate school,’ or anything like that,” Sheetz said.

Other neighbors agreed, describing the teen as friendly and chatty. One woman said she often stopped by for “girl talk.”

The girl, who is a University High School student, was being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall late Friday.