Police search for leads on hoax bomb device

Huntington Beach police and Orange County Sheriff’s deputies are going to be hard at work to track down whoever left fake explosives at Huntington Beach Central Library during a business fair attended by members of state and federal government, authorities said.

“They’re going to be looking at fingerprints and DNA, and all that CSI stuff,” Huntington Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Martha Werth said.

After hours of investigating, members of the sheriff’s bomb squad found that a suspicious package reported near the library was not a bomb but a hoax, authorities said.

It is hand-made and has no explosive nature whatsoever, Orange County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad investigators determined after taking samples of a suspicious powder from two packages found at the scene near the library entrance. Upon testing, they found the material inside was just a pile of torn up white paper, Werth said.

The bomb squad used a remote control robot to “slowly tear apart” a plastic-covered package that appeared to be an explosive device, said Investigator Kent McBride, one of two bomb squad members who approached the object. McBride said it looked serious at first.

“I wouldn’t want it in my home,” he added.

A call came in to Huntington Beach police at 11:19 a.m. Friday from a library employee saying a suspicious object was found outside the library, Werth said.

Huntington Beach police evacuated 500 to 600 people, possibly including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. California State Assemblyman Jim Silva had been at the library but left before the evacuation. The two were attending a small business fair at the library.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department also came to the scene, Werth said.

The package had wires coming out of it, Werth said.

“It’s something designed to look like a bomb,” she said.

No one was allowed within a 500-foot perimeter of the library.

Silva’s District Director Erik Weigand said the business fair, which was cut short, was put on by multiple government agencies to help small businesses.

“It’s pretty upsetting ... it ruined a great event. When we were there, every [government] agency, federal to local was there to help small businesses,” Weigand said. “For somebody to do that ... is rather unfortunate.”

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes.com.