Syosset dad, Francisco Sanles, and his teen son charged after bias incident leads police to bomb-making chemicals

A 15-year-old Syosset teen and his 48-year-old father face multiple charges after a bias incident at a high school led police to find chemicals needed to make explosives at their home on Wednesday, Nassau police said.

Officers found the 15-year-old teen drew a swastika in a restroom at Syosset High School. 

Police then went to the teen’s home and discovered several chemicals that had been combined to create the explosive materials, the department said.

Residents of the house and neighboring homes were evacuated. The Nassau County Hazardous Material Response Team removed the material from the home, police said.

The teen’s father, Francisco Sanles, 48, paid for the chemicals on multiple occasions, according to police.

Jim Beirne, 48, who lives across the street from the teen’s residence, said he and his wife heard a loud banging on their door from police around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Officers told them they had to leave immediately due to a hazmat situation. Beirne said they drove to his in-laws, who live nearby.

After they returned to their house just before 10 p.m., Beirne said they saw hazmat trucks and tents set up at the residence and authorities with hazmat gear on.

Beirne said he also saw the teams line up the chemicals on the residence’s driveway.

He and a neighbor, Steve Visalli, heard a blast set off by what they thought was a hazmat team, detonating some chemicals too dangerous to move.

Visalli, who lives on the opposite side of the block to Beirne, said he felt his house shake and heard a large boom when the detonation happened.

Until then, he was unaware of the investigation and had not be told to evacuate.

"I thought it was a truck, you know, at first, making a big noise," Visalli said, who rode his bike to Patricia Lane on Thursday morning.

He described the incident as "pretty scary" and was shocked to hear of the connection with a swastika graffitied at the high school.

Francisco Sanles was being charged with seven counts, including two felony charges of criminal possession of a weapon and explosives.

He was awaiting arraignment Thursday morning in Hempstead while his son was awaiting a hearing in Nassau County Family Court.

Police said in charging documents against Sanles, that his son told police his father took him to various hardware stores, including Lowe's and Home Depot, to buy various chemicals for that he said was using to build rockets.

The son said his father would buy the chemicals with his credit card, but "did not supervise him while he "heated/cooled/combined the chemicals," according to a criminal complaint.

The 15-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree criminal mischief, first-degree aggravated harassment and making graffiti.

The Syosset School District issued a statement to the community Thursday, acknowledging the incident at the high school and that the reports "are deeply concerning and may cause worry or uncertainty among our students, staff, and families.

It said it would have a counseling team available to assist any student or member of our school community who is unsettled by this incident.

The district said it was cooperating with the police. 

Newsday's John Asbury contributed to this report.
Check back for updates on this developing story.