Bungled Burglary: Two Exploded ATM Machines Lead To Bomb Designer
San Diego, California, resident Son Nguyen blew up two separate ATM machines and didn’t get a dollar from either of them. He apparently has skills as a home chemist but they weren’t good enough to get the job done. He’ll have a long time to ponder his mistakes because authorities already have him in custody.
He blew up two ATM machines without any luck. Officials with the San Diego Police announced that they arrested 44-year-old Son Nguyen on Friday, August 23. More importantly, they cleaned all the explosive chemicals from his residence.
They don’t specify but it appears to have been an apartment. Neighbors were shocked to know what he had inside. He’s been charged with two counts of damaging property.
The first failed attempt to blow open an ATM happened around 3:30 a.m. on June 8. Nguyen allegedly visited the cash machine outside California Coast Credit Union on Governor Drive, hoping to make a withdrawal.
Instead of sticking in a card, the suspect “was seen on surveillance video taking a five-gallon blue plastic container with a white spout to the front” of the machine.
The robot teller isn’t pressing charges for the abuse but Nguyen deftly inserted a black PVC plastic hose into the ATM “just before an explosion inside the device.”
One thing is certain, these were no ordinary pipe bombs. The explosion set off an alarm which brought the cops to investigate. When they got there, they discovered “a white PVC pipe connected to a black PVC pipe with two batteries taped to it.”
After that, they noticed “pieces of what appeared to be a blue balloon around the ATM and another plastic pipe.” Apparently some sort of chemical reaction inside the case of the machine created the explosion.
About three weeks later, on June 28, the cash machine bomber struck again. This time, around 2 a.m. in Rancho Bernardo. This time, it was a First Citizens Bank branch. Nguyen drove up and repeated the same procedure as before.
“After electrical components caught fire and smoke began coming out of the ATM, Nguyen returned to the machine and attempted to pull cash from it but was unsuccessful.” That had to be frustrating.
They tracked the suspect and his ride from surveillance video and soon had a warrant to search his “home.” There, they found “gas, black powder, potassium nitrate sulfur, explosive pre-cursor chemicals, a paper that explains how to make black powder and a firearm.”
They also rounded up “other equipment and clothing items consistent with those used” in the ATM robberies. U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath relates, “fortunately, neither of these incidents resulted in injury or successful theft of cash. With the discovery of chemicals and equipment in the search today, future attempts were also thwarted.“
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