La Habra Man Uncovers Bomb

A pipe bomb found by a La Habra man in ivy by his house was detonated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad Tuesday morning.

La Habra Police Lt. Howard Berry said the man, Nabor Sanchez, 36, found the suspicious-looking device in the ivy when cleaning the yard of his house.

“Not knowing what it was, he took it to work to show his boss,” Berry said.

The employer immediately recognized it and called police, who in turn summoned the bomb squad, Berry said.

Two deputies determined that the pipe bomb was potentially explosive, Berry said. They moved it and detonated it, he said. No one was injured.

Sanchez had moved into the house in November. The device may have been left there since before then, or it may have been discarded there by others, Berry said, “but it had apparently been there for some time.”

Berry said that the device home is not believed linked with several pipe bombs that have been found in the Laguna Niguel area recently and that there is no reason to believe it was intended for Sanchez.

But Sanchez was lucky that the device did not explode when he handled it, police said.

“Fortunately, he didn’t tinker with it too much,” Berry said.