Bomb Scare Suspect Nabbed By Former Lake Elsinore Police Chief And Crew

When former Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station Captain Dave Fontneau took a post last year with Mt. San Jacinto College to lead their police department, some may have thought the pace would be slower.

But yesterday Fontneau and his officers were working quickly to determine who made a bomb threat at the San Jacinto campus that forced the evacuation of several classrooms.

They found their suspect – in a hurry.

Fontneau is reporting that an arrest was made in the case that led MSJC police out to the desert.

Cabazon resident and MSJC student Frank Blankenship, 48, was arrested Thursday by MSJC police in the 51000 block of Esperanza Avenue on suspicion of making bomb threats and terrorist threats, Fontneau said.

The investigation began shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday when Fontneau’s team received a report of a bomb threat. The caller stated he had placed a bomb in a classroom that was going to explode, Fontneau explained.

Along with MSJC police, deputies from the San Jacinto Police Department and law enforcement officers from Cal Fire were called to the scene.

After an extensive campus search, it was determined there was no bomb and it was deemed safe for students and teachers to return to the classrooms, Fontneau said.

The investigation is continuing and anyone with information related to the incident is encouraged to contact the MSJC Police Department at 951-639-5188.