where was tip yesterday? -vbg-
Police Destroy Devices at Charles Schwab Home, Brokerage Branch
Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Bomb squad officers destroyed briefcases with protruding wires that were found outside discount brokerage founder Charles Schwab's California home and a nearby Schwab branch, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said.
The devices, which were found yesterday at Schwab's house in Pebble Beach and at a brokerage office in Carmel, caused no injuries or damage, the sheriff's office said in a faxed statement. Police said no suspects or motives are yet known in connection with the briefcases. Investigators said the two incidents probably are related. Remnants of the devices are being investigated.
There's no indication the briefcases contained bombs, Schwab spokesman Glen Mathison said today in a telephone interview from San Francisco, where Charles Schwab Corp. is based. There were propane tanks in one of the briefcases, Mathison said, citing information from the scene of one of the incidents. He didn't specify who provided the information.
``From everything we can see right now, they were clearly intended as a hoax,'' Mathison said.
The spokesman said he has ``no idea'' why anyone would want to perpetrate a hoax on Schwab, 66, or his company.
``There's no evidence right now of a motive,'' Mathison said.
The company's Charles Schwab & Co., the world's biggest discount broker by customer assets, last week said it's firing about 250 employees and closing about 20 branch offices.
Last Updated: August 19, 2003 06:47 EDT |
