Bomb Prank Suspect Put on Supervised Release
Teen could be sentenced to six years in prison
If convicted, Laforteza could be sentenced to up to six years in prison.
The South Bay honors student who set off homemade bombs at San Ysidro High School made his first court appearance.
Last week, local high school student Elphbert Laforteza apologized to everyone he let down.
Laforteza, 18, was arraigned on three felony counts on Thursday, including possession of a destructive device. During Laforteza's arraignment, the judge put the teen on a supervised release with a curfew.
Laforteza has publicly apologized for the dangerous senior prank on June 5 that forced a campus lockdown. It was his last day of high school.
“I feel like I’ve let down everybody who has been really close to me: my parents, who have been there through everything, all my friends, the student body that has looked up to me and, especially, my teachers, who have done nothing but help me, teach me everything that they could,” Laforteza said.
The teen's attorney said the district attorney is making an example of Laforteza and that there were other people who were involved in the prank.
Several plastic bottles containing some type of acid and another unidentified substance were set in trash cans a few feet from where students were having lunch last Friday at San Ysidro High School. Six of the bottles exploded. No one was hurt, but the bombs were big enough to have hurt or possibly killed someone, investigators said.
No one was hurt.
Laforteza called it a prank gone wrong. Because of what happened, he was not allowed to walk during his school's graduation ceremony last week.
