Carolina Woman Caught with Pipe Bombs, Drugs

(Taylorsville, North Carolina) A 48-year-old nurse at the Alexander County Correctional Institution, Sherry Stella Bortz, was arrested last Friday after police found two pipe bombs and drugs in her parked vehicle at the jail.

Bortz was charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction and possession of a controlled substance on prison premises.

Officers initiated a search of her car after receiving a tip.

That's when they found 13 Vicodin pills in a plastic bag and two pipe bombs under the seat.

The pipe bombs also were in a plastic bag and had birthday candles in the ends — probably to serve as makeshift fuses, said Jones.

When they found the bombs, officers called on the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office's Hazardous Materials Unit for help.

When they arrived, they were able to defuse the bombs and pour out a mixture of what looked like black powder and drywall screws, said Alexander Correctional Institution Superintendent Keith Whitener.

One of the threaded galvanized pipes was about six inches long and the other was just a little longer, Whitener said.

Bortz was booked into custody with bond set at $150,000.