Main Menu

Hillsborough Sheriff Accuses Babysitter of Setting Off Acid Bombs

Joshua Lapin Bertone | Hillsborough Sheriff | Crime

The babysitter was showing a 10 year old how to set off the bombs, the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office said.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY – A Tampa man has been arrested and charged with setting off chemical bombs in a park.

Joshua Stephen Lapin-Bertone, 30, of 109 S Newport Ave., Tampa, was charged with four counts of making/placing/discharging a destructive device and four counts of child abuse endangerment, Hillsborough sheriff’s deputies said.

A deputy working off-duty in the Logan Gate Subdivision near Monterey Lakeside Park, 6602 Monterey Blvd.,said he heard a loud explosion. The deputy went to the park and said he saw Lapin-Bertone setting off chemical (acid) bombs at the park. Lapin-Bertone had a 10-year-old boy with him.

The defendant was showing the boy how to set off the chemical bombs and had the boy help throw them, the deputy said. A search of the defendant’s vehicle yielded additional chemicals used to make acid bombs. The Hillsborough sheriff’s bomb team went to the park to neutralize the chemicals.

The child’s mother came to the park to pick up her child. Deputies said Lapin-Bertone had been babysitting the boy for four years. Lapin-Bertone was arrested and taken to the Orient Road Jail.

For information about the Hillsborough County Sheriff, go to hcso.tampa.fl.us.

Hillsborough County Sheriff | Bomb Squad | Child Abuse | Acid Bomb | TB Reporter

#HillsboroughCountySheriff #BombSquad #ChildAbuse #AcidBomb #TBReporter