By Lookout Staff

May 20, 2011 – A 16-year-old boy is in custody after Santa Monica Police found a variety of explosive devices in his midtown home.

Among the teen's possessions were M-80's, materials for assembling pipe bombs, and a white powder that might be explosive, police told news agencies.

The minor, who is already on probation, will be arraigned Friday, police spokesman Sgt. Richard Lewis told The Lookout Thursday.

Lewis said that charges will be filed then, and include the manufacture of explosive devices, possession of explosive devices, and the possession of a prohibited weapon.

The suspect's belongings included the kind of gun teenage boys sometimes use to hurl chunks of potatoes, Lewis said.

He also was under the influence, and police found drug paraphernalia and illegal prescription drugs in the suspect's possession, Lewis said.

The suspect's intentions are still unknown, said Lewis. It's not clear whether he was trying to manufacture “M-80's, stupid stuff,” he said. “We have to wait to see what his computer yields.”

The cache was found when the teen's probation officer conducted a routine check Wednesday night. Police evacuated the area around the suspect's home on the 1100 block of 12th Street and called in the Los Angeles County Bomb Squad. Residents were allowed to return shortly before midnight.