County Asks California for $500K for 'Bomb House'

San Diego County will ask the state for reimbursement for the $541,242 cost of investigating a stockpile of volatile bomb-making materials found last fall in an Escondido-area home and disposing the cache by burning down the residence, Sheriff Bill Gore said Wednesday.

According to Gore, the $541,242 includes salaries, aerial support, miscellaneous supplies and equipment, and building-contractor costs.

"We knew this was going to have a significant impact on our budget going into this operation,'' Gore said.  "We took every effort to minimize costs. For instance, we rotated deputies from various commands to reduce overtime, called in our search-rescue volunteers and utilized our law enforcement partners when possible.''

George Djura Jakubec who lived with his wife in the rental house just west of Interstate 15 for about four years has pleaded not guilty to eight federal charges stemming from the discovery of the explosives.

Jakubec, 54, is accused of manufacturing and possessing destructive devices, as well as robbing three banks and trying to rob a fourth over the past two years. Authorities have disclosed no motive for the Serbian native's purported bomb-making activities.

His alleged activities came to light Nov. 18, when a landscaper stepped on and detonated some type of incendiary chemical or device in Jakubec's yard, suffering serious injuries. The stash of hazardous compounds -- including substances favored by terrorists -- was the largest quantity of such explosives ever found in a single location in the United States, authorities have said.

 The discovery of the stockpile prompted then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare the San Diego region a disaster area. Likewise, the county Board of Supervisors ratified a local emergency declaration over the dicey situation. After weighing the risks posed by the explosive chemicals, sheriff's officials decided that burning down the house was the only reasonably safe way to dispose of the hazardous substances.

The Sheriff's Department has submitted paperwork for potential reimbursement from the state of California via procedures enabled by the emergency declaration, according to Gore.

City News Service contributed to this report.