2 Arrested In Boston Bomb Scare

Electronic Ads For A Late-Night Cartoon Placed On Bridges Called "A Hoax"

(CBS/AP)  Two men were arrested in connection with a bomb scare Wednesday in Boston when electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots as a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon briefly disrupting traffic and subway service.

Most of the illuminated devices depict a character making an obscene gesture.

Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, were each arrested Wednesday night on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

In a news release announcing Stevens' arrest, she said the men worked together to place the devices. At an earlier news conference she said Berdovsky had been hired to place the devices.

Berdovsky posted video on the Web of him placing the devices around Boston, reports The Early Show correspondent Joie Chen.

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in Wednesday before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

"It's a hoax — and it's not funny," said Gov. Deval Patrick, who said he'll speak to the state's attorney general "about what recourse we may have."

Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, later said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement, issued a few hours after reports of the first devices came in.

The devices were planted in nine other cities, but with far less dramatic results, reports Chen.

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, Texas, San Francisco and Philadelphia all had the devices for the past few weeks.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said.

Complicating all of this, adds CBS News correspondent Bob Orr, is a separate bomb scare that happened earlier Wednesday at the Medical Center in Boston. Officials say a disgruntled employee is suspected of planting a phony pipe-bomb. It was not a real explosive.

The marketing company responsible for the campaign, Interference Inc., had no immediate comment. A woman who answered the phone at the New York-based firm's offices on Wednesday afternoon said the firm's CEO was out of town and would not be able to comment until Thursday.

[cleanby]

I think that all of the city officials and law enforcement folks that perpetuated (and caused) this scare should be the ones in jail. How stupid are they. And more importantly, if there ever is a real attack like this, I would hope that they would do a better job of diagnosis the risks involved. Really, how long does it take to figure out the 'devices' were harmless electronic billboards.

[docthink]

For goodness sake, this is just the worst of the blame game. The Boston police were chasing a red herring. There was no wrong. Enough! Let the slacker-guys go, and try and learn from this. If things weren't so secret, the police could have promoted the image and someone would have seen and all would have been well. Let the guys go.

[rustysan-2009]

Preposterous nonsense, propogated by sensationalist journalism and a defensive government. I am bemused by the constant use of bomb hoax terminology when a hoax is defined as, "something intended to deceive or defraud", this was never intended to deceive people into believing the packages were bombs. Come on guys, you are all smart folks, let's report it as it is, a Marketing campaign mistaken as a bomb threat.

[yoitsemo]

In at least five major cities across the United States (two including Seattle and Atlanta) are very large murals of the same characters that take up an entire side of multiple story buildings. So this isn't the first time the cartoon has been advertised in the public without any idea of what it is really representing.

I heard on another news story that these "electronic devices" have actually been hanging up for around two weeks now but no one really noticed them. Kind of scary to think that if these were even close to something dangerous to the public, what could happen if they went unnoticed for more than a day.

I also agree with the constant use of the word "hoax". It's completely unneccesary. Like I said earlier, this isn't the first time this cartoon has been advertised in such a large scale way outside of the normal boundaries of marketing.

[yoitsemo]

And if you were wondering what these "devices" looked like that fooled everyone, here's the video the guys who put them up made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doD_VpT_yAY

[rthomaswhite]

sensationalist journalism at its best. Seriously guys try to at least focus on facts, this is horrible. Even refering to this as a bomb hoax is absurd.

[csgeorge-2009]

What is wrong with those people?
The devices were Lite-Brites with a cartoon character on it!
The next bomb scare will be cause by someone leaving a McDonald's bag in a trash can!