ANAHEIM : Radioactive Device Recovered From Car

Police recovered a soil-testing device that contained radioactive material Monday, ending fears that people tampering with the machine could inadvertently expose themselves to harmful radiation.

Police said the device was found in the car of Christopher Anthony Bertuzzi, 21, believed to be from Yorba Linda, who was charged with possession of stolen property. Bertuzzi denied stealing the machine, police said.

“We’re very relieved,” said Dave Brown, field services manager for the Anaheim-based soil-engineering company Moore & Taber, from which the device was stolen more than a week ago. “You don’t like to have something like that missing for very long. . . . If somebody had played with it or got into it the wrong way, it could have posed a health risk.”

Health experts had warned that direct exposure to the machine’s radioactive elements could produce skin burns. Long-term exposure to the radioactive material beneath the unit’s protective covering could damage blood cells and trigger leukemia.

The device, a 30-pound soil-density tester encased in an orange box labeled with yellow caution stickers, was stolen from the bed of a pickup truck on the company’s Anaheim lot 10 days ago. A thief or thieves used bolt cutters to snap chains that locked the tester to the truck bed, Brown said.

After newspaper and television accounts of the theft and potential health hazard appeared Saturday and Sunday, police received calls from two witnesses who identified the device. Early Monday, police located it inside a 1978 Toyota Celica belonging to Bertuzzi.

Sgt. Michael Briley of the Anaheim Police Department said the tips led police to the car, where they found the device in the back seat. Anaheim hazardous-materials experts surveyed the area to check whether the device had leaked any radioactive material, and after determining that it had not, returned it to Moore & Taber.

Although the company offered a $200 reward for the device’s safe return, neither of the witnesses has come forward to claim it, Brown said.