Ex-Pyrotechnist’s Arrest Ends 9-Hour Bomb Scare

A Van Nuys man was jailed on $500,000 bail Friday after police found large quantities of explosive materials illegally stored at his home, authorities said.

The arrest of Raymond Oberg, 75, a retired pyrotechnist, followed a prolonged bomb scare Thursday, during which about 60 homes were evacuated for more than nine hours.

Investigators turned up a large cache of ammonium nitrate--one of the primary ingredients in the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings--and other pyrotechnic materials in Oberg’s garage, said Los Angeles Police spokesman Jason Lee.

Displaced residents in the surrounding four-square-block area were allowed back into their homes around 1 a.m. Friday, after the LAPD’s bomb squad had hauled off the materials.

“Whenever you deal with explosives, there’s always a potential for danger,” Lee said. “That’s why residents were evacuated.”

The investigation began about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, when Darmae Emmons, a Mail Boxes Etc. employee, found a mysterious object buried inside some foam packing peanuts in a trash bag and called police. The object was eventually traced to Oberg’s home in the 7900 block of Genesta Avenue.

“It was just a black cylinder with a coil on it. I didn’t know what it was, but it looked odd,” said Emmons, 24.

She said she believed the object was mistakenly left in with the packing peanuts that Oberg brought to the store in a trash bag to be recycled.

“I think it was a mistake,” Emmons said. “I don’t think it was intentional.”