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Disneyland employee pleads not guilty in 'dry ice bomb' explosions
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Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.
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A 22-year-old Disneyland employee pleaded “not-guilty” Thursday to setting off “dry-ice bombs” at the theme park earlier this week.
Prosecutors say Christian Barnes left not one – as previously thought – but two dry ice bombs inside Disneyland.
The first exploded in a vending cart, but apparently no one noticed.
A short time later, a second "dry-ice bomb" exploded in a trash bag that a custodian had set on the ground.
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The bomb squad was called to investigate, and discovered there had been two explosions.
Toontown was evacuated for about two hours. There were no injuries, but some people reported ringing in their ears.
Barnes was a Disneyland street vendor and had access to dry ice; Disney uses it to cool ice cream and soft drinks.
Police say Barnes saw himself as committing a prank – nothing more.
Nonetheless, he’s facing six years in jail for possessing a destructive device in a public place.
He’s due back in court in next week for a pretrial hearing.
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