Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Bomb Scare

A Signal Hill body shop owner who parked a truck that he claimed held 5,000 pounds of dynamite outside Paramount Studios pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three felony charges.

Dozens of friends and relatives of Abram Nacham, 64, were in Municipal Court to show support for the Long Beach man, whose business woes apparently sparked the five-hour incident on Saturday that resulted in the evacuation of two square miles of Hollywood.

The Ukrainian immigrant’s son, Gary, grinned and clasped his hands when Municipal Court Judge Michael Kellogg recommended special housing for the father, and lowered his $1-million bail by half.

Defense attorney Stuart Lawrence Carroll told Kellogg his client is not a violent person and that his actions were an extreme aberration.

A preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 7.

Kellogg, while recognizing Nacham’s strong, local ties to his family and business and “a wife who loves him very much,” noted the serious nature of the charges.

According to his son, Nacham had no criminal intent, but wanted to draw media attention to a business dispute with the American Automobile Assn. A club spokeswoman has said it cautioned members about Nacham’s business because the work was substandard.