A man from Pasadena was caught and is being charged with setting off at least two explosions last week. Police say he may have been involved in more than 150 explosions in a small area over the last two years.
The D.A. for Los Angeles County charged 63-year-old Art Leon Berian with three counts of destroying property with an explosive device. His court date was Monday, and bail was set at $1.5 million.
Authorities say that on Thursday, cops were looking for video of one of the explosions and looking into it when they heard another explosion and saw a white cloud. Berian’s 2013 BMW was seen pulling up to the scene of the blast by police. He was caught, and cops said they found evidence in his car that was linked to the explosion.
The vast majority of fires in the past two years were not reported to the police. However, police say that ShotSpotter technology or neighbors were able to find out about them. 14 bombs have gone off in a small area near Allen Avenue and Washington Boulevard in the past two weeks.
People who work at the Universal Stop smoke shop on Washington Boulevard said the blasts looked like fireworks to them. He told them he had heard a few of them over the past few months, and they had shocked the people who came into the shop. He thought that teens driving by set off the bombs.
“I didn’t see that guy. “I just heard them,” the boss, whose name was Sam B., said. “Everyone thought it was a gunshot, but I saw it and it looked like a firework.”
The police found two cars that were involved in the blasts. The cops said they were both registered to Berian.
“Out of the blue. “These explosions have not been linked to any injuries,” the Pasadena Police Department said in a news statement.