Boy, 16, Is Sentenced to 3 Years for Planting Devices at High School

A 16-year-old Channel Islands High School student was sentenced Monday to three years in a youth prison for helping a friend plant fake bombs on campus so they would get a day out of school.

The sophomore received a severe sentence because he had prior contact with the juvenile court system, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Pam Grossman. She declined to provide details, citing the boy’s age.

The youth will be eligible for parole in one year and was placed on probation until age 21, Grossman said. His probation could be extended, however, depending on his behavior at the California Youth Authority, Grossman said.

“It’s a big sentence,” she said. “There will be probation even if he were to get out early.”

Despite the harsh sentence, Grossman said there appeared to be no sinister motives behind the Oxnard incident.

“There was no underlining evil motive here to blow up the school or cause harm to anyone,” she said. “However, to consider it to just be a prank would be ludicrous. It was very real when they had to evacuate the school.

“Hopefully, other minors will get the message that you cannot make threats with bombs. These things are treated seriously.”

The boy and a 17-year-old school friend were arrested after authorities discovered what appeared to be three bombs on the school’s campus on May 11. A fourth bomb look-alike was found off campus but near the school, police said.

The bomb scare prompted authorities to evacuate about 2,500 students and call in the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad. The incident occurred three weeks after the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.

“They came up with the idea after watching television and saw that kids at schools where there were bomb threats were getting out early,” Grossman said of the two youths.

Earlier this month, the 17-year-old male student was ordered to serve six months in a youth jail for his role in the bomb scare.

That teen was placed on probation for three years, the maximum amount of time he could have faced in the California Youth Authority. He was also ordered to pay an unspecified amount of restitution to the Oxnard Union High School District.

Wilson is a Times staff writer and Johnson is a reporter for Times Community News.