Woman Who Spiked Playgrounds Jailed Again

A woman who pleaded guilty last year to planting razor blades and nails in southern Orange County playgrounds was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating the terms of her probation, authorities said.

Lori Elizabeth Fischer, 24, was booked at Orange County Jail after sheriff’s deputies found a box of nails in her car when they pulled her over last week in Lake Forest, authorities said.

“We had a call indicating that she was having some difficulty coping with reality,” said Lt. Hayward Miller, sheriff’s spokesman.

“Basically, we were out to do a welfare check. We detained her, and reports were generated that would have caused some concern regarding her probation.”

Fischer, of Mission Viejo, was held for several days at a psychiatric facility in Cerritos after being detained, KNBC-TV Channel 4 reported.

A probation hearing is scheduled for Friday, court records show.

“The court has a lot of latitude,” Miller said. “They can incarcerate her, send her for counseling or dismiss the charges and send her back home.”

In a proceeding in April 2003, Fischer admitted planting nearly 200 nails and razor blades at parks in Foothill Ranch, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo from April until June 2002.

Before many of the incidents, authorities said, she called police to warn them of cities about to be targeted.

Authorities said that after her arrest they found newspaper clippings documenting her crime spree and a diary filled with musings and poems about the incidents.

Fischer could have faced an 11-year prison sentence but was placed on five years of formal probation during which she was required to get treatment. She was also prohibited from contact with children.

Last week, police in Laguna Beach received a teletype from the Sheriff’s Department warning them to be on the lookout for Fischer because she was “feeling destructive again,” a spokesman said. “Apparently she had called her therapist,” he said.