By Khalida Sarwari
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office seized more than 1,000 pounds of explosives from the home of a 35-year-old man in an unincorporated part of the county on Wednesday.
A representative from the County Environmental Health Agency reported the incident around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday after receiving a tip from a local freight agency that was scheduled to deliver 350 pounds of dangerous substances to a home located in the 200 block of 25th Avenue, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies noticed illegal firework manufacturing materials at the home and requested an inspection from bomb team technicians. They determined that the materials were potentially explosive and ordered residents in the neighborhood to evacuate.
Other items related to the manufacturing of illegal fireworks were discovered at about 11:45 p.m. when bomb technicians returned to the home after obtaining a search warrant.
The nearly 50 families who had been displaced were allowed to return to their homes around 3 a.m. when the bomb team stopped searching due to poor lighting conditions.
At about 9 a.m. Wednesday, technicians resumed their search and found more than 1,000 pounds of explosives, which were deemed dangerous to the neighborhood by hazardous material technicians from the Santa Cruz County Environmental Services and Central Fire Department.
The neighborhood was ordered to evacuate for a second time as bomb technicians worked along with officials and chemical disposal experts with the State Environmental Protection Agency to separate, identify and render safe the substances, which included thermite.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested the resident Stanley Vallelunga, on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance, but he has not been charged with a crime related to the explosives, the sheriff’s office said. Vallelunga posted $20,000 bail and was released.
The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate the case.