So Cal Man Faces Federal Charges For Storing Bomb-Making Materials

A man accused of making bombs and storing explosives at his rented Escondido home — including compounds used by terrorists — faced federal charges today after a grand jury returned an eight-count indictment.

George Djura Jakubec, 54, who was born in Serbia, was charged in state court last week with unlawfully making and possessing explosives. Those charges were dismissed today so Jakubec can be prosecuted in federal court.

The federal indictment handed up Thursday alleges that on or before Nov. 18, Jakubec made destructive devices, including nine detonators and 13 grenade hulls with unknown quantities of high explosives.

Jakubec was arrested last month after a landscaper, Mario Garcia, 49, of Fallbrook, was injured when he stepped on something akin to a mine in Jakubec’s backyard. It remains unclear why Jakubec allegedly created what a prosecutor called a “bomb factory.”

The cache of compounds — including substances used by suicide bombers and the so-called underwear and shoe bombers — was “the largest quantity of these types of homemade explosives (ever found) at one place in the United States,” Deputy District Attorney Terri Perez said at Jakubec’s Nov. 22 arraignment in state court.

Bomb experts decided that burning down the house was the safest way to dispose of the large amount of hazardous bomb-making chemicals stored there.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared San Diego County a disaster area because of the explosives, and the house is to be destroyed next week.

To prepare for the destruction of the suspect’s former rental home, crews Thursday began erecting a 16-foot-high metal-framed wall alongside it to the north. The barrier, to be covered with fire-resistant dry wall and flame- retardant gel, will protect a next-door neighbor’s home, sheriff’s spokeswoman Melissa Aquino said.

Workers also removed shrubs, trees and wooden fences that could catch fire during the burn, which will take place when climatic conditions — notably wind patterns — are as favorable as possible for this time of year.

Earlier this week, the county Air Pollution Control District installed a portable weather station on the roof of nearby Escondido Fire Department Fire Station 3 to get real-time weather patterns and “minimize surprises” on the day of the burn, Aquino said.

Hazardous-materials experts, meanwhile, have been strategizing on air monitoring to take place during the prescribed blaze and planning for the subsequent clean-up task.

Additionally, sheriff’s officials are meeting with Escondido police and firefighting personnel to plan the evacuation of dozens of homes and traffic- control measures that will be necessary on the day of the controlled fire, Aquino said.

A stretch of nearby Interstate 15 also will be closed during the operation due to its proximity to the contaminated house.

The federal indictment also charges Jakubec with three counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery for heists at San Diego County banks.

Jakubec allegedly took about $54,000 in bank deposits in the three robberies last year and this year, according to the indictment.

The defendant — in state custody on $5 million bail — is scheduled to make his first appearance at the U.S. District Courthouse in San Diego next week, possibly Monday.

That same day, according to court records, Jakubec admitted to authorities that he robbed three banks as well as having explosives and weapons at his home.