By Shari Kaplan
Los Gatos police detective John Pernick arrested two 16-year-old boys Aug. 29 on charges of causing four pipe bombings that have occurred in the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno area since February 1996.
After months of investigations, interviews and following up on leads, Pernick charged the juveniles--one Los Gatan and one Monte Sereno resident--with making and placing the pipe bombs that exploded in mailboxes on Robin Anne Lane and Vineland Avenue in Monte Sereno. Both explosions took place in February. Another bomb found in a Vineland Avenue mailbox did not explode. Because the youths are juveniles, their names have not been released.
One of the teens is charged with igniting a pipe bomb in Los Gatos's Bachman Park, and both are charged with throwing a smoke bomb into a car on Karl Avenue in Monte Sereno, which caused $6,000 in damage.
The juveniles, both Los Gatos High School students, were booked into Juvenile Hall and were scheduled for a hearing on Sept. 3. A third 16-year-old Los Gatan has been questioned and released. The investigation is continuing, LGPD Sgt. Tricia Friedrich said, and further arrests may be made.
There are two other local pipe bomb incidents under investigation, which police believe are not connected to the juveniles.
Ten minutes after midnight on July 27, a six-inch-long pipe bomb crashed through the kitchen window of an apartment on Calle Marguerita in Los Gatos, rolling across the floor into the living room. It did not explode. Los Gatos police summoned the bomb squad of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department to safely remove the bomb.
Nearly a month later, a resident of Cherrystone Drive in Los Gatos discovered a pipe bomb around 7:10 p.m. Aug. 23 in his side yard. He picked up the 10-inch long pipe to examine it, then called the police on suspicion that it was a bomb.
Los Gatos police notified the San Jose Police Department's bomb disposal unit, which safely removed the pipe that same evening. The resident told police he hadn't been in that area of his yard for about two weeks; he didn't know when the bomb might have arrived and had no idea who might have placed it.
Friedrich warns people not to pick up a pipe bomb or use anything to move it or touch it, due to the volatile nature of the explosives inside the pipe. She encourages anyone finding a pipe bomb to stay away from it and call the police at 354-8600. Anyone with information on these or other pipe bomb cases may call the investigations bureau at 354-6825.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, September 4, 1996.
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