FBI arrested the wrong man in UCSD bomb hoax

UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
11:27 a.m. January 7, 2008

SAN DIEGO – The man the FBI first arrested in the UCSD bomb hoax in
December is no longer suspected of the crime, the FBI said Monday.

The FBI dismissed charges against Timothy Bryon Kalka in the hoax and
arrested Richard Sills Jr., 54, of Encinitas, instead.

Sills, a temporary employee in the UCSD Biomedical Science Building, is
charged with giving false or misleading information to engage in a hoax
with explosives, the FBI said.

The bogus device was found the morning of Dec. 5 at the Leichtag Family
Foundation Biomedical Research building where Kalka, who had recently
been fired from the university, had worked, officials said.

Kalka has since been cleared, the FBI said.

Minutes after the device was found, a caller phoned in a threat to
detonate a bomb inside the building.

Officials said the university had also received a letter that day that
stated a group called the Animal Liberation Front would detonate
explosive devices at research buildings on campus if research animals
were not evacuated.

Several buildings at the La Jolla campus were evacuated while
authorities investigated the device. It took the Metro Arson Strike Team
seven hours to determine it was harmless.

Sills is expected to have his first appearance in federal court downtown
Monday.