Deerfield Twp. — Warren County Sheriff's deputies filed criminal charges against three teens for using explosive devices in Deerfield Twp, police said.

The boys, each 15 years old, set off the explosive outside a residence at 8954 Pembrooke Drive just after midnight Saturday, May 3, according to police.

One of the boys sustained injuries to the upper portion of his body when the boys "mixed a batch of chemicals into an explosive mixture and set it off in an empty soup can," a police report stated. Pieces of the soup can hit the house and at least one other nearby house, and one boy was treated and released from a local hospital.

Deerfield Twp. fire investigators and the Butler County Bomb Squad confiscated chemicals and other materials found in the Pembrooke Drive home.

The teens were charged with: two counts of aggravated arson; criminal use of an explosive device; illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for manufacturing an explosive device; unlawful posession of a dangerous ordnance; and illegal manufacturing or possessing explosives.

"This is eerily similar to the tragedy in West Chester that is so fresh in our memory," said Sheriff Tom Ariss. "I caution parents, neighbors and even friends of young people making this stuff to know what they are getting into. This is a deadly game."

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4541 or dwilson@coxohio.com.

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