THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996               TAG: 9603160360
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Medium:   54 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** A pipe bomb found in Virginia Beach was destroyed by the police bomb squad. Mike Wade is a battalion chief and spokesman for the Fire Department. Mike Carey is a police spokesman. A MetroNews story on Saturday contained errors. Correction published Sunday, March 17, 1996. ***************************************************************** BEACH MAN ARRESTED AFTER POLICE FIND PIPE BOMB OFFICERS WERE AT HIS HOME BECAUSE OF A DOMESTIC DISPUTE.

A 49-year-old man was arrested Friday night after police found a pipe bomb in the house he rents in the 1100 block of Southern Boulevard. The Virginia Beach Fire Department's bomb squad destroyed the device at the scene.

The man was taken into custody and was expected to be charged Friday night with the manufacture and possession of an explosive device, said Mike Wade, chief of the Virginia Beach Fire Department. The man's identity was not released.

Wade said that the man admitted to authorities that he had made the device and explained why, but Wade would not say what the man's explanation was.

Police responded at 6:47 p.m. to a report of a dispute between the man and his girlfriend. When they arrived, the man said he was trying to get the woman to leave his house but that she refused.

When police entered the house, they found drug paraphernalia, which they confiscated. The man indicated to police that the paraphernalia did not belong to him.

That's when the woman produced a blanket to police, claiming that it was covering something that did belong to him.

``That blanket contained what we believe was a pipe bomb,'' Carey said.

Police immediately evacuated the residence and the house next door. They also closed part of Southern Boulevard near the intersection at Birdneck Road.

The bomb squad was called to the scene and sent a robot into the house to remove the device. Once outside, the device was blown up by a bomb squad technician, Carey said.

Drug paraphernalia charges are being considered against the man's girlfriend, Carey said. The paraphernalia was sent to a drug lab for testing, he said.

KEYWORDS: ARREST BOMB VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

by CNB