RIVERSIDE – A woman, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs, was arrested on Saturday after making a false bomb threat that suspended Metrolink trains traveling to and from the downtown Riverside station.
According to the Riverside Police Department, at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, a Metrolink security officer reported a woman, later identified by police as 50-year-old Regina Joy Raffaele in a Metrolink platform area at 4066 Vine St. was tugging on a brake lever on the outside of a train. She appeared to be intoxicated.
When the security guard confronted the woman, she became upset and said her “terrorist boyfriend planted a bomb on the train,” said Riverside police Lt. Dan Hoxmeier
According to the Press Enterprise, Raffaele, who was identified as a parolee at large and homeless, was arrested about 11:10 a.m., three hours after she reported a bomb threat.
The officers searching for Raffaele located her just north of the Metrolink station. Riverside Police report that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is anticipated to pursue charges for making a false bomb threat.
Passengers were evacuated from the Metrolink train which was headed from the downtown Riverside station to Los Angeles while a Riverside Sheriff’s bomb detection K-9 team was dispatched. The K-9 team found no evidence of a bomb during their search. The passengers boarded another train about 9:15 a.m.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (which has responsibility for patrolling Metrolink trains) and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department are continuing to investigate the incident. Currently, the Obama administration has increased security measures at major transit hubs across the country in response to the bombings in Brussels.
According to police records Raffaele has prior arrests in Riverside County that include possession of narcotics, taking a vehicle without an owner’s consent and carjacking.
