Monrovia man gets three years for threatening to shoot up schools, hospitals

A 26-year-old Monrovia man accused of threatening to shoot up local schools, hospitals and a mall was sentenced to three years in prison, officials said Wednesday.

Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, said Gerardo Cortez pleaded no contest on Monday to one felony count of making a criminal threat. A Pomona Superior Court commissioner sentenced him the same day.

He was originally charged with six counts of making criminal threats and five counts of falsely reporting an emergency.

Cortez was arrested in September for allegedly making phone calls threatening to attack with an AK-47 assault rifle Santa Fe Middle School in Monrovia, Duarte High School, Northview Intermediate School in Duarte, Arcadia High School, a chain of San Gabriel Valley hospitals and the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia.

The threats started Sept. 9, 2013, when someone called Covina police and threatened violence against “Citrus Medical Center.”

Covina police searched Citrus Valley Medical Center, Intercommunity Campus, Glendora police responded to Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora and West Covina police ended up at Citrus Valley Medical Center — Queen of the Valley Campus in West Covina. All hospitals were put on lockdown.

Santa Fe Middle School in Monrovia received a similar threat on Sept. 9.

The next day, threats were made to Northview Intermediate School in Duarte, Duarte High School and Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia.

Then on Sept. 12, Arcadia police got a call that an armed man was at Arcadia High School.