DA-Elect: Juveniles in Pipe Bomb Case to Be 'Handled As Juveniles'

Based on the evidence she's seen so far, Cherokee County District Attorney-Elect Shannon Wallace said this afternoon that "there's been nothing to show" that two 14-year-old boys accused of making what appeared to be pipe bombs will be charged as adults.

"The juveniles will be handled as juveniles," she said.

It was Monday that the Canton Police Department received a tip about suspected explosive devices at 119 Woodbury Lane, which is in the city's River Green subdivision.

"We had information about a juvenile and a Facebook account," Canton Police Chief Bob Merchant told Canton-Sixes Patch earlier this week, "and we have been able to access that and that information is part of our investigation."

While assistant police chief Todd Vande Zande didn't say how authorities were tipped off, he said that "as soon as we got the tip, we contacted the (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) Bomb Disposal Unit and the ATF and we have been in touch with the FBI."

Through Monday morning and much of that afternoon, agents with the ATF and the GBI went in and out of the Howell home. They found six devices and detonated one.

Just before 1 p.m. Monday, a 14-year-old boy, who was wearing a red T-shirt, was placed in the back of a Canton Police squad car. That teen was charged with two counts of possession and manufacture of destructive devices. Another 14-year-old boy, described by Merchant as a friend, was arrested that night on similar charges.

The juveniles were being held at a juvenile detention facility on Wednesday, but Wallace said today that she could not comment on the location of the juveniles—or much of anything related to the case—because of their ages.

A hearing that was scheduled to take place this morning didn't happen, she said.

"The attorney waived the (right to a) detention hearing," she said.

Brian and Sandra Howell, the parents of the first 14-year-old boy, were . Each of them was charged with six counts of possession and manufacture of a destructive device as well as two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. And a female juvenile in the home was turned over to the .

DFCS spokeswoman Ravae Graham said today that she could not "confirm and/or deny" that the agency has had any dealings with the family.

Brian, 49, was held Tuesday in the  in lieu of a $68,560 bond. So was Sandra, also 49. Both were released, Merchant said Wednesday.

Court records indicate that the couple knew the juvenile "was making pipe bombs in" their home, then blowing them up behind the reisdence with the other 14-year-old. In an affidavit for arrest, authorities accuse Brian and Sandra Howell of providing the fireworks and gun powder that the juvenile used to fill the pipe bombs. 

Brian Howell threatened to call the police when a reporter stopped by this afternoon.

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