Man Arrested in Explosion at Anaheim Apartment Complex

A Garden Grove boat mechanic has been arrested and charged with possessing explosives and triggering a Jan. 11 explosion that rocked an Anaheim apartment complex, police said Wednesday.

Douglas Carl Meredith, 26, was arrested after explosives experts linked him to a 4 1/2-pound bag of dynamite, found at a liquor store last week, that was enough “to take out half a city block,” Garden Grove Detective Steve Sanders said.

Material used in the Anaheim explosion cracked windows and left stains where the blast occurred, Sanders said. Meredith allegedly triggered the explosion to scare someone into repaying a debt to him, police said.

Accompanied by his mother, Meredith surrendered to detectives at 8:40 a.m. Monday at the Garden Grove police station, officers said. He was taken into custody and booked into the Orange County Jail. Bail was set at $125,000.

Meredith was charged Tuesday in West Orange County Municipal Court with five criminal counts, including possession and planting of explosives and attempted extortion by detonating an explosive device. He remained at the jail Wednesday pending arraignment.

The Garden Grove investigation began Jan. 13, when a man called police from Ed Larsen’s Liquor Store in the 13100 block of Harbor Boulevard to report finding a bag there containing 4 1/2 pounds of dynamite. The caller said he had placed the bag in his own car, from which officers removed it upon arrival.

Three businesses, including the liquor store, were evacuated and Harbor Boulevard was closed to traffic while two members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s Hazardous Devices Unit removed the dynamite. One of the Sheriff’s Department investigators said the paper bag contained several sticks of dynamite, 30 feet of detonator cord and eight blasting caps.

Bag Found in Car

The man who reported finding the explosives later told detectives he had found the bag in his car among belongings of Meredith, who was a friend, Sanders said.

Garden Grove Sgt. Phil Mason said the friend, who was not identified and who has not been arrested or charged with any crime, also told investigators that Meredith had possession of the dynamite.

Detectives said they also learned that there had been two explosions, on Jan. 10 and 11, at an Anaheim apartment complex near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Chapman Avenue. Meredith has been charged in connection with the second of those explosions, Sanders said. Witnesses told police that Meredith was trying to scare a man into repaying a debt, Sanders said.

Anaheim Police Lt. Bill Wright said officers summoned to the apartment complex were told that a car that was strange to the neighborhood had been seen cruising the street. On Jan. 11, residents pointed to the car as it drove by and officers stopped it, Wright said. Sanders said Meredith and the friend who called from the liquor store about the dynamite were in the car.

There was no evidence linking either man to the explosions at the apartment complex at the time, Wright said, but Meredith was arrested and jailed for outstanding warrants for traffic violations. He later was released on bail.

Garden Grove detectives, meanwhile, had traced the 4 1/2 pounds of dynamite, which Sanders described as a “complete bomb,” to a San Diego firm that used the explosives for underwater salvage operations. The firm reported that the dynamite had been stolen. Meredith had once worked for the firm as a boat mechanic, Sanders said.

Sanders said he intended to obtain an arrest warrant for Meredith but the suspect was persuaded by relatives--who had been questioned by detectives--to turn himself in Monday morning.