Disgruntled and cooperative

Deputies say they arrested 75-year-old Frits Versteegh late on December 4, after he reportedly sent a bomb threat by email to a news station’s website.

In a press release, a San Diego County sheriff’s spokesman said the department learned of an email that was sent to NBC’s website and “the sender claimed to be targeting SDG&E work trucks.”

Bomb and arson investigators went to the intersection of Spearhead Trail and Circle R Drive in Valley Center at about 4 p.m. on December 4 and searched the area for two hours, the spokesman reported.

“We did not find any explosive device,” sergeant Alan Noble said in a phone interview on December 5.

“Deputies determined Frits Versteegh, a nearby resident, sent the threatening email,” according to the sheriff’s statement.

The elderly Valley Center man was described as “very cooperative” and was quietly taken into custody. “He was just disgruntled,” Sgt. Noble said.

Versteegh was reportedly frustrated with San Diego Gas & Electric Company because when they recently installed a new power pole in the area, the utility workers destroyed a dirt berm along the side of the road. This caused recent rains to flow down the middle of the dirt road instead of to one side, and the road is now severely eroded, Sgt. Noble said.

The suspect posted $25,000 bond and bailed out of the jail in Vista early on the morning of December 5. A court date for Versteegh was not immediately available.