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Public Safety

Escondido "Bomb Factory" Suspect Indicted On Federal Charges

A man accused of making explosives at his rented Escondido home -- one of which injured a gardener -- was indicted by a federal grand jury, so local charges were dismissed today.

In a nine-count federal indictment handed up Thursday, George Djura Jakubec, 54, was charged with illegal manufacturing of destructive devices, illegal possession of destructive devices, bank robbery, attempted bank robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime.

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

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Jakubec was arrested last month after a gardener, Mario Garcia, 49, of Fallbrook, was injured when he stepped on something akin to a mine in Jakubec's backyard.

While searching Jakubec's residence, investigators found nine pounds of explosive materials sometimes used by terrorists, and the residence was dubbed a bomb factory by authorities.

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.

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

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

He is scheduled to make his first appearance at the U.S. District Courthouse in San Diego next week.

At his Nov. 22 arraignment at the Vista Courthouse, Judge Marshall Hockett ordered the defendant be held on $5 million bail.

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