Bomb-Parts Find Keeps Bail Same for Wayne Suspect

The parts of a bomb were found in the home of the man charged with the slashing attack last year on Aissa Wayne and a companion, prosecutors said Friday.

Police found plastic caps, potassium nitrate, clay, shrapnel and a book detailing how to make bombs in Jerrel L. Hintergardt’s apartment before his arrest March 17, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans said.

The disclosure came in court Friday as Evans successfully opposed a motion by Hintergardt’s attorney to reduce his $1-million bail. Evans declined to elaborate on why authorities believe that Hintergardt had collected what he called “bomb components.”

Municipal Judge Russell A. Bostrom, citing Evans’ statement about bomb components, refused the defense request to lower bail to $25,000. Hintergardt remained Friday in Orange County Jail.

Deputy Public Defender Jeff Lund had based his request on Hintergardt’s lack of a prior record, graduation from college and need for medical treatment for a leg injury.

‘Danger to Public Safety’

But Evans contended that Hintergardt, 37, of Burbank, presented “a danger to public safety” and would flee if bail was reduced.

Evans said that after Hintergardt was questioned by police about the Wayne attack, he fled.

“Basically, he vanished into the night and left some interesting things behind,” Evans said.

Evans argued that the bomb components show that Hintergardt is dangerous, but he conceded that he does not know “how that (bomb materials) fits in our case.”

After the hearing, Lund declined to comment on the bomb allegations. “We only know what the D.A. says,” he said. “We haven’t seen any evidence with regard to what was found in his (Hintergardt) apartment complex.”

Evans declined comment as well. “I can’t comment on that because the investigation is continuing,” he said.

At the hearing at Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach, news photographers were barred because the defense plans to conduct a lineup and publication of Hintergardt’s picture might influence eyewitnesses and victims, Evans said. Evans did not oppose the motion.

A large portion of the records of the criminal case, including the arrest warrant obtained by Newport Beach police, have been sealed by court order.

“The information in there would impact a continuing investigation,” Newport Beach Police Lt. Tim Newman said.

Hintergardt was charged with assault in an Oct. 3, 1988, attack at Luby’s $3-million home in Newport Beach. Two armed men seized the couple, bound them hand and foot, pistol-whipped them and slashed the 52-year-old financier’s right Achilles tendon.

Also being sought in the case is O. Daniel Gal, owner of a Los Angeles-based detective agency hired by Wayne’s ex-husband, as the second suspect.

The warrant, filed last week, charges Gal with criminal conspiracy, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a person with a firearm and using force or violence on a witness.

Hintergardt is a former employee of Gal.

Fits Description

Newport Beach police, in search warrants and affidavits filed Feb. 27 with Orange County Superior Court, said Hintergardt fit an eyewitness’s description of one of the two men who assaulted Wayne and Roger W. Luby, 52. According to eyewitness Glenn Glenn Torrez, one of the men he saw leaving the Luby estate on the day of the attack, walked with a pronounced limp, was blond, and was about 6 feet, 2 inches tall.

Hintergardt fits that description, according to court papers. The Feb. 27 court documents said Gal was seen parked on the street near Luby’s walled estate on the morning of the attack.

Court records show that Gal’s firm had been hired by Pomona orthopedic surgeon Thomas A. Gionis, Wayne’s ex-husband, last year while the couple were going through an acrimonious divorce and custody fight over their now 2-year-old daughter, Anastasia.