It looks like the District Attorney’s office will not be filing any charges against the man who decided to play a Thanksgiving Day “joke” on his sister by telling her there was a bomb in her car, prompting the shutdown of a busy San Diego highway and stranding holiday drivers for hours.
From NBC San Diego:
The San Diego District Attorney’s office decided not to file charges Wednesday against a man who made a prank phone call to his sister saying there was a bomb in her car, resulting in a massive law enforcement response and the shutdown of Interstate 15 on Thanksgiving.
Victor Diaz, 28, was taken into custody Thursday after pulling the bomb hoax on his younger sister, Deanna Diaz, 27. He spent the holiday weekend in jail awaiting punishment for the stunt.
Originally, Victor faced felony charges for making a false bomb threat. He was supposed to be arraigned on Wednesday, but the case took another turn when the DA’s office ultimately chose not to file charges.
The case will now be passed onto the San Diego City Attorney’s office for review. At this point, the prankster’s case can be reduced to misdemeanor charges for making a criminal threat. He may also still face hefty fines.
Officials said Victor will likely be released from jail Wednesday night, and will receive a letter in the mail notifying him of the next steps in his case.
Victor Diaz had called his sister Deanna from a number that she did not recognize (and apparently in a disguised voice), and told her there was a bomb in her car. His sister then pulled over and called 911, triggering a law enforcement response that included multiple agencies and bomb sniffing dogs, and shut down the highway and snarled traffic for several hours on Thanksgiving Day.
That call was followed by another one, threatening to follow her home.
The brother had not realized just how far his prank had escalated until he arrived at their family’s home for Thanksgiving and heard about the traffic jam and police response when he asked where his sister was, according to NBC San Diego.
Ultimately it was determined that the calls were from the brother, whom police confirmed was very apologetic over the whole ordeal. He arrived on the scene when authorities asked to question him and was promptly arrested.
This likely wasn’t the Thanksgiving that the siblings and their family had been expecting. Nor the stranded drivers.
For now anyway, it looks like Victor Diaz has caught a bit of a break, at least until the city attorney’s office decides what it will do. And then of course, it sounds like he’s got his family members to contend with.
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Comments
So thousands of members of the productive class lost a chunk of their weekend for this idiot to pull a “prank”.
At a minimum he should be sentenced to the total time lost – if it is life so be it.
But then the government long got out of the business of working for the productive class…
This does not prevent them going after him for civil charges, does it? I could see a whopping bill over that (better to let him pay some of it off).
If George Bush (or Jolla resident Mitt Romney or David Koch or any Tea Party member) had done this, then . . .
Once Victor Diaz’s Democrat credentials were verified the San Diego District Attorney decided that no further action was necessary.
This guy is one good example of the leading cause of income inequality – the “defining issue of our day.”
Weapons-grade stupid to pull a prank like that, but I think that the decision to send the decision over punishment to the city was a good one. This should be handled by the juristiction that was most impacted by the crime committed.
Having grown up with five sisters, all of whom continue to torment me, I think this decision is absolutely correct and fair, and that poor Mr. Diaz was almost certainly the victim of entrapment by his sister.
personally I have felt some sort of misdemeanor charge would have been the best way to go.
I think jail and felony for a prank phone call from one family member to another is way too much, but there needs to be repercussions.
course if someone called me saying that I would stopped, gotten out, said prove it by blowing it up then gone on my way.