19-year-old charged for ‘prank’ bomb threat in Newbury Street store

A Pennsylvania teen was charged for allegedly handing a stranger a bomb threat with a Starburst candy as a “prank” in an Urban Outfitters on Newbury Street in Boston, the Suffolk County DA announced Sunday.

“It’s difficult to fathom how in this day and age anyone would consider it a prank to hand a note to a perfect stranger in the middle of a major city indicating they were holding a bomb,” said Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden. “As this case indicates, such a reckless action causes fear and comes with consequences.”

Lucas Lembck, 19, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, was arraigned Wednesday in BMC Central on one count of bomb/hijack threat after an incident he called a “prank” Tuesday. Judge Richard Sinnott released Lembck on personal recognizance, the DA’s office said.

At about 12:40 p.m. March 18, Boston Police say they responded to a call from the Urban Outfitters at the corner of Newbury St. and Massachusetts Ave.

Officers met with the victim outside, the DA’s office said, who said a man approached him while shopping inside. The suspect, later identified as Lembck, allegedly told him, “It’s national Starburst day; I want you to have this,” and passed him a yellow Starburst with a note.

The note read, “I have a bomb don’t say a (expletive) word,” Hayden’s office said. When the victim looked up, he reportedly stated the suspect was gone.

The victim gave officers a description of the suspect, the release said, who they found on security cameras with the victim holding what appeared to be a note. During the interview, the victim reportedly stopped and pointed the officers to a man he believed to be the suspect across the street.

The cops approached the man, Lembck, across Newbury Street, the DA’s office said, and asked if he’d recently been in Urban Outfitters.

Lembck allegedly said, “I don’t believe so,” Hayden said, but admitted to being in the store and passing a note inside after being read his Miranda Rights.