Two Pipe-Bomb Blasts Called Unrelated

A pipe bomb hidden in a portable stereo exploded in a motel room about 90 minutes after a similar explosive blew up on top of a discount department store, tearing an 8-inch hole in the roof, police said.

The two incidents were apparently unrelated even though the bombs exploded within a short time span, Police Sgt. Bob Ensley said.

The stereo bomb discharged shortly after Herman N. Belkins, 21, and Kathy Dastrup, 32, arrived at the Tustin Suites motel on East 1st Street at about 10 p.m. Saturday.

Belkins said he had borrowed the stereo from a residential garage in Orange and brought it to Santa Ana to play. The stereo blew up after Dastrup placed the stereo on a table and crawled under it to plug the stereo in, Ensley said.

Dastrup received minor cuts but did not require hospital treatment, Ensley said. Belkins, who was 12 feet away, was not injured. Belkins told police that he did not know who owned the stereo.

The electric current apparently detonated the bomb inside the radio, Ensley said.

Investigators from the police and the Orange County bomb squad determined that the explosive was a pipe bomb that had been installed in the stereo, Ensley said.

Police are still investigating, but no one has been arrested.

Another pipe bomb exploded at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday at a K mart department store on Edinger Avenue and Bristol Street. No details were available, Ensley said. A store employee said the explosive blew an 8-inch hole in the store’s roof.