Stupid News-Woman drops off a box of bombs at sheriff's office

Stupid News-Woman drops off a box of bombs at sheriff's office

Woman drops off a box of bombs at sheriff's office
by Rick Bella, The Oregonian

HILLSBORO -- Washington County sheriff's deputies were surprised Saturday evening, when a woman brought in a box of 32 high-explosive bombs used to scare seals from fishing grounds and piers.
No one was injured in the incident.

Leanne Wade, 56, of Hillsboro told deputies she confiscated the seal bombs from her friend's 21-year-old son in Seattle earlier Saturday, then drove them to Hillsboro to turn them in for destruction. She placed the seal bombs on a counter in the after-hours lobby of the sheriff's records department around 6:50 p.m.

Deputies soon called in Portland's bomb squad to safely dispose of the explosives.

They then interviewed Wade and determined that no harm was intended. No criminal charges are expected, said Sgt. Bob Ray, sheriff's spokesman.

A seal bomb resembles a small stick of dynamite. Each is about the diameter of a quarter and has a fuse on one end.

They are classified as high explosives under federal law. To legally detonate one, a permit is required from the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Deputies had not determined how Wade's friend's son came to possess the seal bombs.

-- Rick Bella; rickbella@news.oregonian.com