Bragging leads to girls’ arrests in bomb threats

Published 9:42 pm Tuesday, January 27, 2009

EVERETT — The two young women suspected of making bomb threats that closed Mariner High School on Friday bragged to friends they thought the stunt would make them famous.

Instead, the threats landed them in jail.

The pair, 14 and 18, allegedly signed the threats, scrawled in graffiti on the school’s walls, with their street names, “Cake,” and “PePe.”

Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies believe the girls and a third accomplice wore dark clothing and bandanas over their faces about 2 a.m. Friday. The trio allegedly wrote threats mentioning bombs in the ventilation system that would explode at 11:11 a.m., according to a police affidavit filed Tuesday in Everett District Court.

It took more than 15 deputies and nearly half a dozen Washington State Patrol bomb technicians and explosive-sniffing dogs nearly a day to search the school and determine there was no bomb, the papers said.

The threat prevented around 2,500 students from attending classes and kept teachers and others from doing their jobs, Mukilteo School District spokesman Andy Muntz said.

The district is tallying the cost of cleanup and wasted wages and food, he said.

The graffiti also made specific mention of two gangs active here, the court papers said.

Investigators don’t believe this was a gang-related incident, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.

“This is threats to bomb, malicious mischief,” she said.

Deputies were still working Tuesday to arrest a third suspect, Hover said.

“The threats and graffiti were signed by three distinct handwriting styles with three street names,” wrote Deputy Beau Beckner in his arrest report. Beckner is the school resource officer at Mariner. He developed the information that led to the arrests.

Former Sheriff Rick Bart assigned Beckner to Mariner in 2006 as part of Operation Clean Sweep, an effort in part to help combat gang problems in south Snohomish County. Beckner last week was named Deputy of the Year by the sheriff’s office for his work to return Mariner to a safer learning environment.

“Troublemakers aren’t as interested in hanging out at Mariner anymore because they know they’ll be held accountable now,” Hover said.

On Monday, some students came forward and told school officials they heard rumors about who might be responsible for Friday’s graffiti and threats, Beckner wrote. Students allegedly heard the two young women saying that they would be “famous” and had accomplished their mission.

Beckner tracked the suspects to a downtown Everett shelter for at-risk and homeless youth.

Neither of the girls are Mariner students, Muntz said.

The older suspect was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of threats to bomb. She had recently been released after serving time for a residential burglary conviction, according to court papers.

The 14-year-old was taken to the Denney Juvenile Justice Center for investigation of threats to bomb and malicious mischief.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office tip line at 425-388-3845.

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com