By Town Crier Staff Report

The De Anza College student who plotted to blow up his Cupertino campus with homemade arsenal last year will serve seven years in a state prison, a Santa Clara County judge decided last week. Al Joseph DeGuzman, 20, was sentenced on two charges - possession of a destructive device in a public place and possession of a destructive device with intent to cause harm.

Superior Court Judge Robert Ahern was forced to dismiss more than 100 of the counts against DeGuzman because of prior court rulings that applied to his case, he said.

Police arrested DeGuzman in January, 2001, for allegedly plotting a massacre at De Anza College after they discovered a detailed school diagram, a time line for an attack, and homemade pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails in his San Jose bedroom.

Police credited two photo clerks for tipping them off to the possible bombing just hours before DeGuzman planned to launch his attack on the Cupertino campus.

Police evacuated between 12,000 and 15,000 students before launching a nine-hour search for explosives on campus. The search included more than 100 law enforcement officers from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, San Jose Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, FBI and ATF. No explosive devices were found on campus.

If sentenced on all 108 counts, DeGuzman could have received up to 100 years in prison.

De Anza College is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, which includes the Foothill campus in Los Altos Hills.