FEDERAL WORKER GETS PIPE BOMB IN MAIL.

Byline: Dana Calvo Associated Press 

Police evacuated a neighborhood surrounding the home of a federal employee who received a pipe bomb in the mail Saturday, the third such device found in the San Diego area in as many days.

The bomb did not go off when the man opened the package at 4:28 p.m. Saturday, said Sgt. Tom Keblish. ``When he opened it, he realized it was a pipe bomb and threw it down on the bed,'' he said.

The bomb appeared to be constructed by the same person who built two other bombs and mailed them Thursday and Friday.

One went to the San Diego FBI office and was detonated in the parking lot. The second was sent to a waste treatment company, and authorities disarmed it. There were no injuries.

``This guy is 0-for-3 so far,'' Keblish said.

The bombs were the same size and made from the same material.

``The pipes are the same - brass or copper . . . shiny,'' Keblish said.

The man who received the bomb is a 45-year-old, white federal employee. Keblish did not know which agency the man works for or why he was targeted. The man has no idea why anyone would send him a pipe bomb, Keblish said.

The live bomb remained in the one-story house hours after the man received it. Keblish said authorities planned to detonate it inside because of the populated area surrounding the house. Twelve nearby houses were evacuated.

The home is on the corner of a densely populated, working-class neighborhood in Chula Vista, south of San Diego and 10 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Authorities were at a loss to explain why the bomb didn't explode when the package was opened. ``The tripping device is set to go off when you open it. For some reason, this one didn't,'' Keblish said.