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County bomb squad seizes explosive devices at Napa home
Monday, July 13, 2009
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The rumbling felt by some West Pueblo Avenue residents Friday was not a renegade firework going off.

It was an improvised explosive device that was recovered from a nearby home and disposed of by the Napa County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad.
The bomb was recovered by Napa Special Investigation Bureau agents as they executed a search warrant at the home of Joseph Eugene Kinder on West Pueblo Avenue, according to a NSIB press release.

On Friday, agents arrested Kinder, 55, of Napa, on suspicion of a multitude of gun charges, including possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and possession of ammunition by an ex-felon, as well as possession of stolen property and drug paraphernalia.
The agents went to Kinder’s home to search it after gathering information that Kinder, a convicted felon, had guns, bomb-making components and drugs, according to the NSIB.

Officers posted near the residence watched as Kinder drove away from the home.
With the assistance of  Napa police, the officers pulled Kinder over, detained him and returned to his home to search it.

Inside Kinder’s residence, agents discovered a small arsenal including:

• 11 rifles;

• Eight pistols;

• A flare gun;

• Large amounts of ammunition;

• Several improvised explosive devices;

• Components for making explosives;

• A variety of dangerous weapons, including throwing stars, cane swords and a medieval mace.

The agents also located a large cache of illegal fireworks, a small amount of hallucinogenic drug and a methamphetamine pipe. After doing some checks, the agents learned that several of the seized firearms had been reported stolen, the NSIB said.

Police assisted with the evacuation of neighbors and closed West Pueblo Avenue for about three hours while a Napa County Sheriff’s Department Hazardous Device Team removed the explosives and hazardous materials from the home.

Bomb squad officers deemed one of the devices that was removed from the home unsafe to store as evidence and destroyed it, rattling the neighborhood with a large explosion.

Kinder was taken to jail.

The NSIB is a drug task force comprised of members from the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, Napa County Sheriff’s Department, Napa Police Department and Napa County Probation Department. St. Helena and Calistoga Police Departments contribute financial support to the NSIB.

Correction: An earlier version of this article contained an incorrect age for Kinder
22 comment(s)

clean and serene wrote on Jul 13, 2009 12:20 AM:

" Good Job! Several guns were reported stolen. How about the explosive device? West pueblo? Children are all over that area. Good Job NSIB! "

shangman wrote on Jul 13, 2009 1:08 AM:

" I live just off West Pueblo and upon returning home Friday night I noticed it was completely shut down. Instead of going straight home I stopped at the Pueblo Market just down from the incident and a man walking with his young child was kind enough to explain the situation. That a man has his family hostage and explosives too! With that in mind, I raced home and explained what I found out with my family and neighbor. My family and I all heard the explosion and immediately knew it was "the bomb" and called the neighbors to confirm if they heard the same noise. My point is that I'm shocked something this big was not posted in the paper/website/blogged about sooner! Oh but when someone gets bit by a dog... "

gogojr1 wrote on Jul 13, 2009 1:23 AM:

" wow good job !! "

jfz wrote on Jul 13, 2009 7:26 AM:

" He appears to be better equipped with weaponry than our service men and women in Iraq. "

JustAnotherManicMonday wrote on Jul 13, 2009 7:41 AM:

" Wow, wow, wow! Lots of activity for our sleepy town! I guess it is good we have a bomb squad, good going PD and NSIB! "

napa neighbor wrote on Jul 13, 2009 8:02 AM:

" Good job!! We had entered several complaints about this person over the past two years re:explosives, but he would always race away from the house before the police could get there. Hope he goes away for a long time. There are many cats running around his yard, maybe the humane society should trap them to take care of them. This was a very scary guy, always hung around the bar at the end of the street. "

napabicycler wrote on Jul 13, 2009 8:21 AM:

" I know someone who lives near here. For years now, explosions/pops/shots would go off from this house, at all times of the day and night. The police were called regularly; I’m glad something was FINALLY done. "

c'mon reg get it right wrote on Jul 13, 2009 8:40 AM:

" I too live in the area. I knew something was up and waited to hear something Saturday from this local news service.
I guess the Register does not cover local news on the weekends. Not even an update with basic details.

I guess my rant is really better for a letter to the editor.

Good Job NSIB! Sounds like you got a potential wacko off the streets. "

NAPANATIVE wrote on Jul 13, 2009 8:40 AM:

" So can someone please tell me what will happen to this guy??? How long will he serve in jail for breaking the law as he did being a convicted felon already? Someone with that much fire power in a residential area as he lives, apparently has no regard for human life around him. Things could have eventually "blown up" (pardon the pun) and many children and others could have been injured. "

littlecat wrote on Jul 13, 2009 9:21 AM:

" shangman==I agree with you. I live down the street and was a sleep when I heard a loud explosion, thinking another earthquake was on the way. Looked in the paper Sat/Sun and nothing....At least this was taken care of before something worse could have happened. "

diehard4ever wrote on Jul 13, 2009 9:33 AM:

" Whoa. They were a flame thrower short of what was on a tricked out Stingray I saw in a movie. Good Job! Why would anyone want more than 2 rifles for hunting and something else for protection anyways?

BTW-
How big is a "large explosion"? "

Cowboy wrote on Jul 13, 2009 9:38 AM:

" I guess if you haven't experienced real IRD's in Iraq, then this little "pop" would seem like a big deal. It was no more dangerous than a professional firework. "

ctworker wrote on Jul 13, 2009 10:02 AM:

" cowboy- Just a hunch here, but if it was no more dangerous than a professional firework then I am sure the sherriff's dept. wouldn't have deemed it too dangerous to keep as evidence and therefore wouldn't have had to set it off...

all explosives are plenty dangerous, some more so than others. I would have to think, from the info. in the story, that while this explosive may not have been extremely powerful, something about its makeup made it extremely unstable and thus extremely dangerous. "

napa neighbor wrote on Jul 13, 2009 11:17 AM:

" Seems like if it was no more than professional fireworks it would have been transported. As it was, the street area was sandbagged and everyone was instructed to stay in their houses and a large explosion occurred. In fact, we thought a gas main had exploded. (we were another street over and it brought everyone out of their houses and into the street.There was a large flame that shot up in the air. I think the NSIB and everyone did a great job. "

steph wrote on Jul 13, 2009 12:32 PM:

" Where's Nixle when you need it? "

crusherfan wrote on Jul 13, 2009 3:02 PM:

" what time was the explosion? "

glenroy wrote on Jul 13, 2009 4:41 PM:

" He's going to the big house for good...which is good. "

shangman wrote on Jul 13, 2009 5:44 PM:

" The explosion was somewhere around 10:30pm. "

vinobobareno wrote on Jul 13, 2009 7:10 PM:

" As a resident who lives very close to this person I’m glad something was done. But what took the Napa PD so long to do something about this? Many neighbors have called in a complained about this person. I was told that the PD couldn’t do anything cause they (PD) didn’t witness the complaint. An ex felon with this many complaints should not have been brushed aside. Luckily nothing bad happened before he was relieved from the small arsenal of weapons he illegally possessed. Perhaps they (PD) were waiting for an unfortunate accident to happen before taking action. Too many times the PD just plays “Lets see what happens” Yet if I were to change lanes without a signal and got a ticket and never paid the ticket or showed up in court, they would come after me! Well at least this person has finally been dealt with, better late than never? "

thoughtank wrote on Jul 13, 2009 8:23 PM:

" They should lock this man up and throw away the key. No parole for this repeat offender.

Kudos to law enforcement for nabbing this guy without anyone being hurt or killed.

I agree with Steph. Why was nothing posted on Nixle after this event? This seems like the perfect medium for communicating this type of information quickly.

Could someone from the city of Napa address why there is (still) no information on the Napa Nixle website about this incident? Will Napa be posting this type of information on the Nixle website in the future? What are the city of Napa's criteria for posting incidents such as this one that affect the public? (Hint: The criteria should include that the information be posted as close to "real time" as possible in order to get people to use it and in order to be effective.) "

Mr. Feasor wrote on Jul 13, 2009 11:55 PM:

" That was a pretty loud BOOM.

I don't know if the volume of the explosion was due to the bomb squad's detonation device, or the IED itself.

But it was loud. Even several blocks away.

Well done, NSIB. And bad job, NVR. It took way too long for this to be disclosed. "

napa neighbor wrote on Jul 14, 2009 9:33 PM:

" I know this is late, and probably no one will read this but I understand the person arrested bailed out right away. Apparently there is no hold for ex-felon is gun possesion, and he was either well equipped to make his bail, or it was set pretty low. I would like to see NVR do follow up on the case in court to see exactly what will happen, if he really goes away and the neighborhood does not have to worry about him anymore. I understand he was back at his house. "

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