Stolen Radioactive Gauge Recovered

Astolen radioactive soil-testing gauge was found behind a Northridge supermarket Friday after an anonymous caller told its operator where it could be found, officials said.

“About 10:15 a.m. this guy called my home . . . and said, ‘If you want your gauge, it is behind Vons at Winnetka and Roscoe”’ and hung up, said David Murray, a radiation safety officer for Foundation Engineering Co., the Tarzana geo-consulting firm that owns the foot-long gauge.

Murray said he found the device in its container in the alley where the caller said it would be, and preliminary tests showed that no radiation had leaked. Results of a second, more thorough test are expected today, he said.

The gauge, used to test moisture density in soil and asphalt, was discovered missing Monday morning from the back of a pickup truck parked outside a company employee’s residence near Nordhoff Street and Sepulveda Boulevard, Murray said. The lead-encased device is not hazardous unless it is broken into, and it did not appear that that had happened, he said.