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News 8 Exclusive: 911 phone call from Escondido bomb maker moments after blast

Just one day after George Jakubec was sentenced to 30 years in prison for storing large amounts of explosives inside his home, News 8 is learning more about the incident that started it all.
News 8 Exclusive: 911 phone call from Escondido bomb maker moments after blast

Jakubec 911 Call - Nov. 18, 2010:
 http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/kfmb/misc/jakubec911.mp3

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Just one day after George Jakubec was sentenced to 30 years in prison for bank robbery and storing large amounts of explosives inside his home, News 8 is learning more about the incident that started it all.

It happened just seven months ago, when a gardener was seriously injured after stepping on some explosives. George Jakubec sounds both confused and frightened. He repeatedly denies knowing anything about explosives on his property, and at one point even turns the phone over to his gardener, who describes what happened.

911 Operator: Hello, Hi what's going on?

Jakubec: What's going on is some kind of uh... uh... some kind of danger.

There's confusion and fear from Jakubec moments after his gardener stepped on explosives in is backyard.

Jakubec: A person has a puncture on his arm and is leaking blood. So we put a tourniquet.

In the five-minute call exclusively released to News 8, Jakubec tells the dispatcher he needs an ambulance sent to his rental home in Escondido, but he claims he has no idea how the gardener suffered severe burns.

911 Operator: How did they puncture their arm?

Jakubec: I'm not sure. I was inside the house, and they were, uh, putting the.... mowing the yard.

The operator instructs Jakubec to apply pressure to his wounds, and within seconds the 55-year-old presses the phone to Mario Garcia's ear, who explains what happened.

Garcia: I was walking through a backyard and all of sudden an explosion. I stepped in something... that explosion came up and got me in the whole side.

911 Operator: An explosion?

As paramedics rushed to the home, which investigators later dubbed a "bomb factory", the dispatcher continues to pepper Jakubec with questions, and he repeatedly denies knowing anything about explosives on the property.

911 Operator: so you're renting this house you don't own the property?

Jakubec: No.

911 Operator: And you don't have any idea what he may have stepped on?

Jakubec: I'm not sure what happened.

Once first responders arrive, the dispatcher tells Jakubec to stay put and direct authorities to where the gardener was walking.

911 Operator: I don't want you to go in the backyard, but I want you to be able to point out where it was where he stepped.

Jakubec: Yes.

911 Operator: Okay.

Investigators later found so many explosive chemicals littering Jakubec's home it was said to be the largest amount ever found on U.S. soil. Rather than remove the materials, they decided to burn the house to the ground back in December.

On Monday, Jakubec was sentenced to the prison term after pleading guilty to one count of armed bank robbery and one count of attempted armed bank robbery.  As part of this plea agreement, he admitted to possessing explosives inside his home.

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