(Photo by Russ Mitchell) Spencer firefighter Ben O'Clair, Jeff Cullen of the state fire marshal's office, Mark Stover of the Spencer Fire Department and Lt. Mike Wilson of the Spencer Police Department watch a monitor as a robot camera looks into mailboxes a few blocks away. Five teenagers left explosive packages in a handful of mailboxes around the county. The stunt caused property damage and tied up emergency resources, but no one was injured.

Five teenagers are accused of putting packages containing a mix of drain cleaner and aluminum foil into a handful of mailboxes. The bombs did not include a trigger or fuse, but the unstable chemical mix could explode with heat or a sudden shift of the contents.

Area mailboxes should be free of explosives and the teenagers suspected of damaging mailboxes and planting the packages have been identified. They face 17 federal felony counts of destruction of letter boxes. Seven state felony counts of destruction of letter boxes with an explosive device also were filed.

Authorities identified the teenagers as: 15-year-old Justin Alan-Lee Titus of Ruthven, 17-year-old Shawn Robert Molitor of Ruthven, 17-year-old Ryan Joseph Hoffman of Ruthven, 17-year-old Alan Jay Japenga of Ruthven and 15-year-old Chan Wei Li of Ayrshire. Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow said the juveniles and their parents have given them full cooperation.

A caller alerted the Clay County Sheriff's Office to a mailbox that had been damaged at 8:13 a.m. Saturday in the county. While the officer was en route, several other calls came in, including one from a mail carrier with the United States Post Office.

The calls described mailboxes that were destroyed by possible bombs. In some cases, the explosion simply blew the door of the mailbox open. In other cases, the blast blew the mailbox into pieces.

The teenagers were students in the same school district but Krukow thinks they picked up the idea for the explosive mix outside of a classroom lesson.

The mailboxes affected were along what is known as the Pete Howe Road, Fourth Street Southwest, 11th Avenue Southwest, along B-24 and to M-54 south of Dickens.

The acts were random, according to Krukow.

"They were just out driving around," he said. Surveillance cameras at a large retail store in Spencer captured images of the teenagers purchasing the supplies used in the bombs.

The sheriff said the chemicals could have easily blinded a person who happened to approach the mailbox. Shrapnel from the explosives could have been fatal.

"I don't think they realized the seriousness of these incidents when they were doing them," Krukow said. "Forewarning to anyone who would be thinking this is fun: It is not, because it… went from a vandalism to basically a federal investigation.

It definitely got ratcheted up a few notches."

David Schipper of the state fire marshal's office said seven mailboxes were planted with explosive devices. Two of the seven packages did not explode as planned.

"There were also 10 other mailboxes destroyed by a blunt object of some sort," he said. Deputies think the teenagers used a baseball bat to damage the 10 roadside mailboxes.

Clay County authorities were assisted by the Clay County Sheriff's Office and Clay County Attorney's Office, Spencer and Dickens Fire Departments, U.S. Postal Inspectors and Spencer Police. The groups checked mailboxes along 110 miles of county and city roads.

(Photo by Russ Mitchell) David Schipper and Jeff Cullen of the State Fire Marshal's Office brought in a remove-controlled robot, capable of reaching into mailboxes, to assist with the search of mailboxes Saturday evening along Fourth Street Southwest.

Schipper and Jeff Cullen of the State Fire Marshal's Office brought in a remote-controlled robot, capable of reaching into mailboxes, to assist with the search. Meanwhile residents were told to use caution when approaching their mailboxes.

"We have suspended mail service delivery in Spencer and some places in the county, so if some people didn't get their mail today, sorry, that was my fault," Schipper said on Saturday. "We stopped the mail service for awhile. We just didn't want anybody opening these boxes. We put it on the radio as best we could."

Krukow said the chemical mixture can be cleaned with a mix of backing soda and water, but encouraged residents to use gloves and eye protection. Residents who sustained structural damage to their mailbox should save receipts because restitution will be a part of the consequences for anyone who had a proven role in the damage.