Aurora man pleads guilty to using explosive device to damage Naperville restaurant
NAPERVILLE - A 26-year-old Aurora man has pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge for using an explosive device in an attempt to damage a suburban Chicago restaurant last year.
On June 1, 2021, Diego Vargas threw a lit explosive device through the window of Egg Harbor Cafe in Naperville, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
The device resulted in two explosions, prosecutors said.
In addition to the restaurant incident, Vargas admitted in a plea agreement that a night earlier he tried to steal cash from an ATM in Aurora, prosecutors said.
Vargas admitted he struck the ATM with a baseball bat and a metal pole from a street sign to try and pry it open, prosecutors said.
The ATM held more than $50,000 at the time of the attempted theft and is located in the drive-through area of a First Midwest Bank branch in the first block of South Broadway.
The charge is punishable by a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.
Vargas will be sentenced on Sept. 2.