LOS ANGELES >> A Stanford University professor arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly having a grenade in his luggage says he was returning from his late father’s home with the World War II-era souvenir.

Gary Walter Cox tells the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1pxTYVK) he cleaned out his childhood home in Palos Verdes after the recent deaths of his parents and had forgotten the memorabilia he packed in his carry-on luggage included the grenade.

He says his father, a retired Navy captain, used it as a paperweight.

Cox was arrested last week after screeners found the grenade as he was attempting to board a flight home to San Jose.

The 58-year-old political science professor is free on $500,000 bail. He said Saturday police have told him the charge will be dropped.