Long Beach JCC targeted in new wave of bomb threats

The Alpert Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Long Beach was one of more than a dozen JCCs across the country to receive a bomb threat on Tuesday. The threat, which was ultimately discredited, was the third wave in a series that took place in January.

The threat was received in Long Beach at about 9 a.m., prompting an evacuation of approximately 300 seniors, parents of small children and children to a local school and to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development facility next door, according to Deborah Goldfarb. She is CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County, which owns the property and whose offices are located at the East Willow Street property, which is shared with a number of other Jewish organizations.

By noon, LBPD determined the threat to be a hoax. “The search has been completed; no devices were located. Normal business operations are expected to resume shortly,” read an update sent out at 12 p.m. by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), which indicated that the investigation is ongoing.

“We came back into the building around 11:50. It took [police officers] awhile [to search the building,” Goldfarb said. “They brought in the bomb-sniffing dogs and that process alone took about an hour.”

The threats across the continent have come in a mix of live and prerecorded phone calls; Goldfarb said she believed the call received by the JCC in Long Beach was a live call from a woman.

“The front desk got a call at 9 a.m. approximately from someone who said her associates planted an explosive device here and the device would go off at 11 a.m.,” she said.

Individuals exercising in the JCC gym; preschoolers at school and others were among those evacuated. Police officials asked Goldfarb to accompany them to the police station so she would be available to answer any questions they may have. She spoke with the ADL as well as a representative of the Secure Community Network, the national homeland security initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America, about what had transpired.

The threats marked the third wave of bomb threats against JCCs this month. On Jan. 9, 16 Jewish community centers in Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, Delaware and elsewhere received bomb threats through live and prerecorded phone calls, according to the JCC Association of North America. Nine days later, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael and the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City, on the campus of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, were among more than two dozen Jewish community centers in 17 states that received threatening calls.

In a statement released after the initial two waves of threats, the FBI said it is working with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in investigating possible “civil rights violations in connection with threats to Jewish Community Centers across the country. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and will ensure this matter is investigated in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner. As this matter is ongoing, we are not able to comment further.”

On Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) declined to provide additional details beyond saying it was aware of the threats.

“Local law enforcement is responding, and the FBI is responsible for investigating these,” an ADL spokesperson, who declined to be identified, said in a phone interview in the afternoon. “I know they’re looking at it seriously. Unfortunately, I don’t have too many details able to provide at this point.”

Goldfarb characterized the Long Beach incident as more disruptive than frightening.

“We’re fine,” she said, “Just kind of a pain in the butt.”