Bomb threat proves a hoax

Michael Miller

Newport Beach police determined Friday that a bomb threat at Newport

Harbor High School was a false alarm.

The threat, found by a student Thursday, was scrawled in pencil

inside a stall in one of the boys’ bathrooms on campus. Police and

school administrators said the message indicated that a bomb would

detonate at 12:45 p.m. Friday. Police searched the campus Friday

morning to look for any suspicious objects and found none. No

students were evacuated during the search.

“We conducted an exhaustive search of the school premises, and we

did not locate anything we believed was foreign to the campus,” said

Sgt. Bill Hartford.

Following the report Thursday, assistant principal David Martinez

sent out a notice to teachers informing them of the situation.

Although the school did not send a letter home to parents that day,

word of mouth spread among a number of students. Several parents

called the administration office asking questions about the threat.

Some of them, Martinez said, had received distorted information about

the incident.

“It got pretty much embellished because the information came from

students,” he said.

Later Friday morning, after the police investigation had turned up

nothing, principal Michael Vossen sent out a voice message to parents

informing them that the situation had been addressed.

Lt. John Desmond said police had no leads about who had written

the message.