By Brian R. Ballou and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Prosecutors today dropped charges against two men whose participation in a guerrilla marketing campaign unleashed a wave of bomb scares after the defendants performed up to two weeks of community service.
Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens both read short statements of apology today in Charlestown Municipal Court.
"I had no intention of upsetting or alarming anyone," said Stevens, who performed 60 hours of community service in the last few weeks.
Berdovsky performed 80 hours of community service. Prosecutors did not describe what the community service entailed. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has scheduled a press conference later today to discuss the case.
Berdovsky and Stevens appeared calm and contrite in court today and said little, a stark change from their first appearance in February, when the two men mocked the media with a performance-art skit about the evolution of haircuts.
They told investigators they were to be paid $300 each to install battery powered light boards in 40 high visibility spots in and around Boston, such as buildings and bridges, as part of an advertising campaign for "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," an animated program on Cartoon Network. The blinking lights triggered regionwide bomb scares on Jan. 31.
The men were charged with placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic, which carried a maximum of five years imprisonment, and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Berdovsky and Stevens were hired by Interference Inc., a New York marketing company retained by Turner Broadcasting System, which owns the Cartoon Network. The companies apologized for the stunt and paid $2 million in restitution to local governments and law enforcement agencies
Posted by: JoninNH
$300 each... wow. Thats big money.
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