MutualFundWire.com: Schwab Target of Bomb Scare
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Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Schwab Target of Bomb Scare


Someone is apparently not happy with Charles Schwab. Two "bomb-like" devices were found at the home and offices of the founder of the eponymous brokerage firm over the past weekend. The Monterey Herald and San Francisco Chronicle report that the police were not sure if the devices would have exploded.

One of the devices was left at the side entrance to a branch located in Clock Tower Plaza in Carmel, California at 7:15 AM on Monday morning. Police were called when someone noticed a brown briefcase with wires sticking out of it. Using a portable x-ray device, police discovered bomb-type components, including propane canisters inside the briefcase. After evacuating nearby offices, a police bomb squad broke open the briefcase with a water canon and then removed it for detonation Monday afternoon.

"It looked like the real thing," said Roger Wildley, head of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department bomb squad. "There were enough components to look like a real device." He added that neither this device, nor a second, was fully functional.

Meanwhile, police discovered a second, black briefcase fifteen minutes after the first was found. The second device was discovered outside the gate of Schwab's Monterey, California weekend home that overlooks the famed Pebble Beach golf course. Schwab was reportedly at the newly-built house over the weekend, but it is not known if he was there on Monday also.

The discovery of the second device led to the closing of the fourteenth hole on the course for most of Monday. Television news reports added that a second hole was also closed. It was disposed broken into with a water canon at 4 PM and disposed of.

Monterey Sheriff Mike Kanalakis told the paper that bomb experts were interiewing Schwab and his staff and studying surveillance tapes in search of suspects.

The police said that they now have no suspect and do not know the motive for the action. They do believe that both devices were left by the same person.


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