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By Miriam Raftery
November 24, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)—East County Magazine visited the Ramona Country Estates neighborhood yesterday where George Djuro Jakubec, the man accused of operating a “bomb factory” in Escondido, lived some two decades ago.
Some neighbors were shocked to learn of the notoriety now attached to this quiet, upscale neighborhood, where Jakubec is listed as the builder of a residence at 15500 Vista Vicente Drive, Ramona. The home is located across the street from a golf course with prime views—and just half a block from the former home of the late tennis star Bobby Riggs, suggesting that the Jakubec family was prosperous when living here.
Jakubec listed this address with the state of California for a sole proprietorship contracting business from 1988 to 1992. He is also listed in property records as the builder of the home. One document was signed Djuro Jakobec, indicated he may have used his middle name as a first name at times.
Linda Knowles used to live next door to the Jakubecs and still resides in Ramona.
“We moved here in 1988,” she said, adding that George Jakubec lived in the home with his mother and father. “She used to wear a Babushka hat and her English was very poor; I thought they were Russian,” she said. (Authorities have indicated that Jakubec is a naturalized Serbian immigrant.) There were no other siblings in the home, Knowles said.
Knowles could no longer recall the parents’ names or occupations of the Jakubecs. But she remembered their son, George. “He was kind of weird,” she said, recalling a night when her husband thought he spotted a prowler breaking in next door, only to learn it was George Jakubec. Now 54, Jakubec was in his mid-thirties at the time. “He didn’t have a beard at first, then next thing you knew, he had a beard and wore dark clothes,” she recalled, adding that he had black hair and was around 5 feet 8 or 5 feet 9 inches tall.
The family was quiet but neighborly at times. “We never saw any parties,” Knowles recalled. “I had them over for Christmas,” she added, but wasn’t certain of the family’s religion. “She used to make cookies.”
George Jakubec didn’t marry while he lived with his parents, she added. The Jakubec home later sold to its current owners, who were not at home when ECM stopped by.
According to the North County Times, George Jakubec lived at a San Marcos apartment complex from 1993 to 2007, but residents questioned by the paper did not remember him.
Jakubec was issued a private pilot certificate in July 1980, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. His Linked In page lists him as a computer software consultant.
His estranged wife, Marina Ivanova, has called him a “good man” but later said she believes he’s gone “crazy” after learning that he is accused of having the largest stash of home-made explosives ever found in the U.S., including plastic explosives materials known as PETN, ETN, and HTMD in addition to grenades filled with shrapnel and detonators. The chemical explosives have been used by Al Qaeda and other terrorists including such notable incidents as the foiled Millennium bombing of Los Angeles International Airport, the London transit bombings, the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber.
He is being held on $5 million bail and is accused of two local bank robberies in addition to charges related to the explosives.
Authorities have seized computers and other materials from Jakubec’s Escondido home, which remains sealed off while explosives experts assess how to deal with the massive quantity of materials present. After a gardener was injured by stepping on spilled explosive material last Friday, authorities shut down I-15 southbound while blowing up some materials after burying them in the backyard. But a search of the home, which authorities have described as cluttered.
“There was no free space and very limited areas to walk…Just piles and piles of junk,” Assistant Sheriff Ed Prendergast said, according to 10 News. He added that items of “great concern” including powders caused authorities to back out due to concerns for investigators’ safety.
The home is located on Via Scott, just west of I-15 and north of El Norte Parkway. “This is the most complex problem I’ve ever encountered,” said Pendergast, a 29-year law enforcement veteran.
Deputy District Attorney Terri Perez told a judge the home amounts to a “bomb factory.”
Jakubec has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Authorities are keeping mum on possible motives or whether he had accomplices, as well as any potential target(s). Meanwhile frustrated residents remain evacuated from neighboring homes.
Jakubec and his now estranged wife, Marina, have previously been arrested for shoplifting from a Fry’s Electronics store. She has said that his hobby was chemistry and that she did not know what he was making.
Jakubec was fired by a former employer, Via Telecom, and was sued by the company, which obtained a judgment ordering him to return an overpayment of more than $3,000.
County property records show no property owned by George Jakubec, who signed at least one document issued to George Jakubec as “Djuro Jakubec.” There are multiple records for property transactions listed with the County online involving a Djuro Jakubec, including several for Djuro and Ezra Jakubec. It is unclear whether these are the same individual: http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
Mario Garcia, 49, the gardener who suffered serious injuries to his eye, arm and torso after stepping on on explosive material in the backyard of the home rented by Jakubec, was released from the hospital on Monday. Palomar Medical Center has established a fund to assist Garcia, who faces large medical bills.
If you have any information about George Djura Jakubec or his contracting business in Ramona, please contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
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