A 64-year-old man was charged Tuesday with making a bomb threat against the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Metrolink station.
Norman Emil Simpson was accused of making the bomb threat while at the train station at 28200 Forbes Road about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, according to sheriff’s deputies. The station was shut down and about five neighboring businesses were also closed as a precaution, according to Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the department.
Simpson was charged with single counts of falsely reporting planting of a bomb and criminal threats and five counts of attempted criminal threats with the intent to terrorize, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of falsely reporting an emergency.
Simpson pleaded not guilty in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana and was scheduled to return to court Nov. 2 for a pretrial hearing in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.