Pipe Bomb Blast in Mailbox Does Little Damage

SEAL BEACH — A pipe bomb exploded in a U.S. mailbox on Main Street early Friday, blowing a panel off the box and destroying some mail, but otherwise causing no damage or injuries, police and postal officials said.

Authorities sought to assure the public Friday that the small blast had nothing in common with devices sent by the notorious Unabomber, or threats against federal property in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Rather, the pipe bomb was probably the work of a juvenile, they said.

“This is something totally different here. It was just a pipe bomb,” said Bernard Ferguson, a postal inspector in Long Beach whose region covers much of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“We have had incidents of mailbox bombs from time to time. We suspect them to be just kids. It is nothing tied to the Unabomber or Oklahoma City. We know that.”

Ferguson said there were 15 letters in the box at Main Street and Electric Avenue at the time of the blast. Only four pieces of mail were damaged, and all of those were legible enough for postal workers to return them to the sender.

“There was a lot of salvageable mail that we sent on its merry way,” said Joe Mansolino, the postal officer in charge of the main branch in Seal Beach. Mansolino sorted through the mail Friday and sent back the damaged pieces.

A city public works employee noticed the damaged box about 5:30 a.m. and notified authorities. Investigators said the device probably went off some time after 2:30 a.m., after the bars had closed and buzzing Main Street had cleared.

Seal Beach police, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad and U.S. postal inspector’s office all responded to the scene of the explosion, taping off the area in the heart of Seal Beach’s main strip.

Postal officials said the county bomb squad took the remnants of the bomb and will lead the investigation.

Eric Spordall, 26, manager of Warno Sports, said he saw police officers surrounding the exploded mailbox on his way to work about 9:45 a.m. Detectives lifted fingerprints from the mailbox before transporting it away, he said.

“I needed to use it today,” Spordall said. “I had to pay some bills. But then again, I thought what a great excuse [not to pay the bills]. Instead of saying the dog ate it, I can now say somebody blew up the mailbox.”

Paul Hasley, 81, a Seal Beach landscaper, said he saw the disfigured box with mail scattered about as he was driving to work.

“It didn’t look very good at all,” he said.

Ferguson said customers will get the mail back with an explanation of what happened. Postal officials promptly replaced the box with a new one.

The last pipe bomb to damage a mailbox in his region went off in Whittier more than a year ago, he said.

Police asked that anyone with information about the blast contact the Seal Beach Police detective bureau at (310) 431-2541.