Police Seize Device Resembling Pipe Bomb After Traffic Stop

CANYON COUNTRY — A routine traffic stop in Canyon Country early Monday morning resulted in police confiscating a device they believe is a pipe bomb.

The device was spotted by a deputy who pulled over a pickup truck in the 27500 block of Sierra Highway with expired registration tags, said Deputy Diane Hecht, a spokeswoman at the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

“He saw what appeared to be a pipe bomb on the dashboard” and called for backup assistance, Hecht said.

The two men in the truck were taken into custody. Chris William Elmore, 19, of Newhall and George Frank Harrington, 31, of Canyon Country were booked at the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station for possession of an explosive device in a public place.

They were also charged with having two loaded shotguns in the truck and a small amount of methamphetamine, Hecht, said. Bail for each was set at $100,000.

No evacuations were needed because the area is sparsely populated. Members of the sheriff’s arson-explosives team removed the device from the truck without incident, Hecht said, then took it to an explosives facility at the Peter Pitchess Honor Rancho in Saugus.

“They won’t know absolutely for sure if it is a live pipe bomb until they explode it or take it apart,” Hecht said, “but it appears to be one.”