23-year-old Arcadia man Joshua Martin Parra-Davis was booked by Arcadia Police on suspicion of possessing an explosive device and leaving it in a backpack near a Bank of America on Foothill Boulevard on Friday, January 14, 2011. Witnesses said Parra-Davis first went to Foothills Middle School and may have been trying to open classrooms when he was confronted and ran off. The suspect was then seen dropping a backpack in bushes near the Bank of America and then running through the parking lot, where officers detained him. Arcadia Police called the bomb squad. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Bob Squad successfully detonated the device. Parra-Davis could be arranged in Pasadena Court today.
Joshua Martin Parra-Davis, 23, of Arcadia, pleaded not guilty in Pasadena Superior Court, to charges of possessing and leaving an explosive device in a backpack near a bank on Foothill Boulevard in Arcadia, on Friday, January 14, 2011. He is charged with four felony counts, including possession of a destructive device near a school. Parra-Davis, a former Foothills Middle School student, was seen opening a classroom door last Friday and then later was seen dropping the backpack into some bushes. The bag contained what appeared to be a homemade explosive.
Joshua Parra-Davis, 23, of Arcadia, was allegedly found with a bomb after visiting Foothills Middle School on January 14, 2011. He will face four felony counts of possession of a destructive or explosive device. He is being held at Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, and due back at Pasadena Superior Court on June 15 to enter a plea. If convicted of all four felony counts, he could face up to 19 years in prison.
Last week's fake bomb threat at Arcadia High School by a 14-year-old student, who was arrested, caused a lockdown of almost 4,000 students and personnel for several hours. This had a great impact on the school. Thousands of dollars of hot lunches were wasted, additional revenue was lost when all school activities in the afternoon and evening had to be canceled, and overtime had to be paid to maintenance workers.
A woman in her 60s turned in a grenade she found, in the garage of her former home in Glassell Park, to Arcadia Police. She is staying with friends in Arcadia. The explosive device was a live World War I hand grenade called a "Mills Bomb" commonly used by British military from 1915-1970s. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's bomb squad detonated the grenade on the lawn of the Arcadia Police Department, after placing it in a hole several feet deep with sandbags. Police advise anyone who finds an explosive device to not move it, but leave it in place and call the police.