Bomb squads defuse failed marketing ploy

BOSTON – Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.

Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, were each arrested Wednesday night on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said. They were to be arraigned today in Charlestown District Court, she said.

In a news release announcing Stevens’ arrest, she said the men worked together to place the devices. At an earlier news conference she said Berdovsky had been hired to place the devices.

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, later said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.

Authorities are investigating whether Turner and any other companies should be criminally charged, Coakley said. It wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday who might have hired Berdovsky.

“We’re not going to let this go without looking at the further roots of how this happened to cause the panic in this city,” Coakley said at a news conference Wednesday night.

Turner did not notify officials of the publicity campaign until around 5 p.m., nearly four hours after the first calls came in about the devices, she and others said.

At least 14 of the devices were found, Coakley said.

A statement from Turner said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.

Four of the devices were found and removed from two suburbs northeast of Seattle, police said.

Three devices were found and removed in Bothell, and one of the cartoon figures was discovered by a road crew in Woodinville.

“In this day and age, whenever anything remotely suspicious shows up, people get concerned, and that’s good,” King County sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said. “However, people don’t need to be concerned about this. These are cartoon characters giving the finger.”

Turner Broadcasting said it was notifying police of all the locations where the devices had been distributed. The company apologized and said it regretted the devices were mistaken as dangerous in Boston.