Monrovia Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Threatening Police Officer

A 26-year-old Monrovia man was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for making a threatening call to an Arcadia police sergeant.

Gerardo Cortez was originally charged with six felony counts of making criminal threats and five misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting an emergency in connection with calls to Southland schools, a hospital, a mall and a police station. He had an earlier conviction, in June, for making a phony bomb threat.

He pleaded no contest Monday to one felony count of making criminal threats. The other 10 counts were dismissed as part of the plea negotiated with prosecutors, according to a court clerk.

Northview Intermediate School and Duarte High School, which share the same campus, were locked down Sept. 10 after an anonymous caller said someone had a gun on campus.

On Sept. 9, the Covina Police Department received a call from a man who said he was at "Citrus Medical Center" -- there is no hospital by that name -- and had an AK-47 and "was going to start shooting people."

A similar phone call shut down a middle school in Monrovia about the same time.

The investigation brought together FBI agents, Arcadia, Covina and Monrovia police officers and the sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Cortez has been jailed since his arrest Sept. 17.

—City News Service