Post date: Dec 06, 2010 10:9:16 PM
Authorities prepare to burn a San Diego, California home after a large amount of explosives were discovered there last month.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES NBC - A suburban San Diego house found packed with high explosives, bomb-making materials and trash will be burned to the ground this week because officials decided it was too dangerous to thoroughly clear the debris.
The house, located in a middle-class neighborhood in the small town of Escondido, became the center of an
investigation of several area bank robberies since a gardener was injured by an explosion on the property on November 18.Authorities entering the single-story, wood-framed house found it stuffed to the ceiling with piles of paper and other debris, mixed with large quantities of explosives, detonators and other bomb materials, including 13 makeshift shrapnel grenades.
Some explosives removed from the house, located about 30 miles north of San Diego, were detonated on the property the next day as authorities shut down a nearby portion of an interstate highway.
But the home's interior proved too jammed with debris and potentially hazardous materials to be thoroughly searched and safely emptied of its contents. Officials instead devised a plan to seal off the dwelling and burn it down.
The home's tenant, George Djura Jakubec -- a naturalized U.S. citizen from Serbia, was arrested by San Diego County sheriff's deputies called to the scene of the blast, and he was later jailed on $5.1 million bail. Jakubec made his first federal court appearance on Monday (December 6).
The burning was tentatively slated for Wednesday, depending on weather conditions, the San Diego County sheriff's office said.