Man Held on Suspicion of Mailing Bomb

Federal investigators on Saturday arrested a Costa Mesa man on suspicion of sending a mail bomb that severely injured the man who opened it.

Darryl Anthony Carr, 34, was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles at 10 p.m. after a federal magistrate approved an arrest warrant for allegedly mailing injurious articles. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

U.S. Postal Inspector Pamela Prince said she couldn’t talk about the motive. But Santa Ana police and neighbors said the Costa Mesa man had been involved romantically with the roommate of the injured man and had become angry when the relationship fizzled recently.

The package, disguised as a birthday present, was addressed to “Jenny.” The roommate, who is a man, is known by that name, police and neighbors said.

The mail bomb is among about 16 found nationwide every year, most of which do not explode, Prince said. Postal Service officials have not investigated that type of case in Southern California since 1980, when a mail bomb killed a secretary, Prince said.

On Pepper Tree Lane in Costa Mesa, residents woke to the sound of sirens as police and federal investigators descended on the area about 8 a.m. Bernie Smith said she looked out of her kitchen window and saw detectives questioning the suspect, who, despite his handcuffs, had a blue and gold macaw on his shoulder.

Firefighters told neighbors they had found a suspicious-looking device in the alley, Smith said. But the device did not turn out to be a bomb, authorities said.

Investigators from several agencies worked through the day and remained in front of the suspect’s home into the night waiting for a search warrant so that they could enter his apartment, Prince said.

Other detectives combed for evidence in the French Street apartment in Santa Ana, where the bomb had exploded in the hands of Peter Marshall on Friday evening.

Marshall suffered injuries to his hand, arm and abdomen and was rushed to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he underwent surgery. He was in stable but guarded condition Saturday night and is expected to recover.

The explosion shook the kitchen, shattering windows and damaging the cabinets and counters, a building manager said. Neighbors in the complex and those across the street said they heard the explosion, which caused car alarms to sound.

The package was mailed Thursday and arrived Friday, police said. The roommate had wanted to wait until his birthday later this month to open the package, but Marshall decided to unwrap the gift in the kitchen that evening, police said.

Detectives on Friday night found a postmark on a piece of the blown-up package and traced it to a Costa Mesa post office. A clerk there helped identify the suspect, said a Santa Ana police officer who asked that his name not be used.

Because the parcel appeared to have been sent through the mail, Santa Ana police turned over the case to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Smith, the neighbor, said the suspect had appeared nervous as investigators questioned him below her window and that he had insisted he didn’t know why he was being held for questioning.

“Another officer came by and took the macaw away,” Smith said. “Then they took him away.”

The explosion was the first such case in Southern California since 1980, when a mail bomb killed 32-year-old Patricia Wilkerson, a secretary at a Manhattan Beach computer company. William Ross, a former real estate agent, was embroiled in a real estate dispute and had enlisted Robert Manning and his wife to build the bomb and send it to the business rival, Prince said.

Manning, a former Jewish Defense League activist, and Ross were convicted in the case, Prince said. Manning’s wife, Rochelle, died while awaiting extradition from Israel.

As in the Santa Ana case, the presumed target of the bomb was not injured, Prince said.