Teens admit to bomb threat that locked down Ventura High School
A pair of California teenagers accused of calling in a bomb threat that forced the lockdown of roughly 2,000 students at Ventura High School last month have admitted to their involvement in separate hearings, officials announced Thursday.
On Wednesday, one of the minors agreed to three felony charges, including malicious informing of a false bomb, conspiracy to commit a malicious informing of a false bomb, and criminal threats, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office announced in a news release.
'Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin DeNoce sentenced the minor to wardship under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, the most serious level of juvenile probation,' the news release stated.
The second minor, who is from Santa Barbara County, admitted to two felony charges, including malicious informing of a false bomb and conspiracy to commit a malicious informing of a false bomb during a May 21 hearing.
That teen is scheduled to appear for an interim hearing on June 10 at the Santa Maria Juvenile Courthouse, as required by law, the news release states. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for June 17.
The charges stem from the minors' involvement in a May 2 incident in which school officials received a threatening phone call claiming that someone was on campus with a bomb and intended to commit a shooting.
The campus was immediately placed on lockdown as law enforcement was called to secure the campus and investigate.
'These threats placed the entire Ventura High School campus on lockdown, and caused students, teachers, and the surrounding community to be in fear,' Juvenile Unit Supervisor Maureen Byrne said. 'The juveniles who committed the false bomb threat and school shooting threat have been held accountable for their criminal conduct.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Santa Paula man charged in slaying of Ojai woman, 2023 death of Ventura man
A Santa Paula man was charged with two counts of murder on June 6 in the recent killing of an Ojai-area woman as well as the death of a Ventura man in 2023. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office announced that Christian Alexandre Hillairet, 24, had been charged in Ventura County Superior Court with two counts of felony willful, deliberate and premediated murder, according to a DA's office news release. He has not yet entered a plea. Hillairet is also accused of numerous special allegations, including commission of more than one murder, use of a deadly weapon and a prior strike. Such allegations can carry additional jail time if he is found guilty. Hillairet is accused of killing Carolyn Nino De Rivera, 26, and William Thompson, 44. Nino De Rivera's body was found in a home in the 12000 block of Sisar Road in the unincorporated area of Santa Paula, also known as the Upper Ojai area, on May 31, authorities previously said. The home was leased by Hillairet and the two were in an "on-again-off-again" relationship, said Ventura County Sheriff's Capt. Rob Yoos. Ventura Police Department and sheriff's investigators said they found evidence tying Hillairet to the Ventura man's killing. Thompson was found bludgeoned to death in Ventura on Nov. 3, 2023, according to the DA's office news release. 'The defendant's alleged actions reflect a chilling pattern of violence and cruelty,' DA Erik Nasarenko said in the release. 'Our office is committed to securing justice for these victims and prosecuting Hillairet to the fullest extent of the law.' Hillairet was arrested by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office with the help of federal and Mexican authorities in Rosarito, Baja California, on June 4. Investigators earlier had learned that Hillairet had crossed the border into Mexico through the San Ysidro border crossing early June 1. He was booked into Ventura County Main Jail on June 5 without the possibility of bail, court and jail records show. He is scheduled to return to court June 9. Senior Deputy District Attorney Theresa Pollara with the DA's Major Crimes Homicide Unit is prosecuting the case. Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@ This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Paula man charged in killings of Ojai woman, Ventura man
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Teens admit to bomb threat that locked down Ventura High School
A pair of California teenagers accused of calling in a bomb threat that forced the lockdown of roughly 2,000 students at Ventura High School last month have admitted to their involvement in separate hearings, officials announced Thursday. On Wednesday, one of the minors agreed to three felony charges, including malicious informing of a false bomb, conspiracy to commit a malicious informing of a false bomb, and criminal threats, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office announced in a news release. 'Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin DeNoce sentenced the minor to wardship under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, the most serious level of juvenile probation,' the news release stated. The second minor, who is from Santa Barbara County, admitted to two felony charges, including malicious informing of a false bomb and conspiracy to commit a malicious informing of a false bomb during a May 21 hearing. That teen is scheduled to appear for an interim hearing on June 10 at the Santa Maria Juvenile Courthouse, as required by law, the news release states. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for June 17. The charges stem from the minors' involvement in a May 2 incident in which school officials received a threatening phone call claiming that someone was on campus with a bomb and intended to commit a shooting. The campus was immediately placed on lockdown as law enforcement was called to secure the campus and investigate. 'These threats placed the entire Ventura High School campus on lockdown, and caused students, teachers, and the surrounding community to be in fear,' Juvenile Unit Supervisor Maureen Byrne said. 'The juveniles who committed the false bomb threat and school shooting threat have been held accountable for their criminal conduct.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
27-05-2025
- Miami Herald
Man died after car plunged off road on Christmas, CA officials say. Driver sentenced
An accused drunk driver plunged down an embankment after leaving a family Christmas celebration in 2022, killing his 23-year-old passenger, California prosecutors said. Now, more than two years later, Michael Gordon Butler, 40, has been sentenced to four years in state prison in the death of Coldren James Lee Udell Kiblinger, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said in a May 23 news release. An attorney for Butler did not immediately respond to McClatchy News' request for comment on May 27. 'This was a preventable tragedy,' Deputy District Attorney Jillian Ewan said in the release. 'Coldren Kiblinger's life was tragically cut down by Butler's grossly negligent decisions on December 25, 2022.' Christmas crash California Highway Patrol officers got a 911 call the evening of Dec. 25, 2022, about a Corvette that had plunged '200 feet down an embankment' after leaving the Simi Valley roadway, prosecutors said. Butler left a family Christmas celebration at about 6 p.m. in his recently purchased car with Kiblinger seated in the passenger seat, prosecutors said. When the two didn't return, the family became worried and 'used location-tracking apps' to look for them, prosecutors said. Family members found the crash site and called 911, prosecutors said. CHP investigators determined that at the time of the crash 'Butler had been driving at a high rate of speed while impaired, lost control of the vehicle, and struck trees and the hillside,' killing Kiblinger, prosecutor said. 'An angel on this earth' Loved ones remembered Kiblinger as 'a genius' who 'enjoyed working on cars, dancing, rapping, building random things around the house, hanging with friends, going to the beach with your dog star, you loved art, watching the sunset and the sunrise,' his obituary says. Kiblinger turned 23 just four days before he died, according to his obituary. He had planned to propose to his girlfriend in the coming year, the Ventura Police Department said in a May 2024 news release announcing a DUI checkpoint dedicated to Kiblinger. 'You left in the most gut wrenching way and will forever live in our hearts and our minds always and forever,' his obituary says. 'You were an angel on this earth long before you became one in heaven.' Guilty plea In April 2024, Kiblinger's mother, Loren Kiblinger, spoke in court about a potential four-year prison sentence for Butler, a close family friend at the time of the crash, saying it 'does not, and will never equate, to the lifetime Cole will be missed and the lifetime that Cole will now be missing,' the Simi Valley Acorn reported. Kiblinger's younger brother also spoke in court, according to the newspaper. 'We are taught from a very young age the dangers of getting into the car while impaired,' Kaden Kiblinger reportedly said. 'This is no accident.' A year later, Butler pleaded guilty 'to one felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated,' prosecutors said. He also admitted to special allegations of a serious felony and that 'the crime involved great violence,' according to prosecutors. 'While no amount of time will bring Coldren back, I hope the guilty plea will give some sense of justice and closure for the hardship Coldren's family and friends have endured,' Ewan said. Simi Valley is about a 40-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles.
