Ex-Disneyland employee pleads guilty to planting dry ice bombs
A former Disneyland worker who planted two dry ice bombs outside Toontown at the amusement park last spring pleaded guilty Monday and was immediately sentenced to 36 days in jail.
Christian Isaiah Barnes, 23, of Long Beach was accused of planting two water bottles filled with dry ice, one in a trash can and the other in vending cart, at Disneyland.
Both bottles exploded, but there were no reported injuries. Barnes was initially held on $1 million bail.
In an unrelated case, a ground services employee at Los Angeles International Airport was arrested in October in connection with three dry ice bomb incidents at non-public areas of the airport. One of the bottles packed with dry ice exploded in an employee restroom; another exploded on the airport’s tarmac.
In the Disneyland case, authorities said Barnes was working at a vending cart last May outside Toontown when he put one of the water bottles in the cart. When another employee arrived to relieve him from his shift, that worker opened the cart and the bottle exploded, authorities said.
Barnes reportedly walked away, put the second bottle in a trash can and left the area. A few minutes later, it exploded when a custodian tried to empty the trash, according to the statement.
Barnes was arrested at the scene. He was initially charged in Orange County Superior Court with one felony count of possession of a destructive device in a public place, was held on $1 million bail and faced a potential six-year prison sentence.
Instead, a judge allowed him to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of possession of a destructive device. In addition to the time in jail, he will serve three years of informal probation and 100 hours of community service and will have to stay away from Disneyland.
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