A California man has been arrested and charged for allegedly using explosives to attempt to steal cash from two ATMs but failing to make off with any money.
A California man, Son Nguyen, 44, of San Diego, has been arrested and charged with two counts of damaging property for allegedly using explosives in unsuccessful attempts to steal cash from two ATMs.
On June 8, at approximately 3:30 a.m., Nguyen allegedly drove up to an ATM outside California Coast Credit Union in San Diego. Surveillance footage captured him taking a five-gallon blue plastic container with a white spout to the front of the ATM and inserting a black polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic hose into the machine. Shortly after, an explosion occurred inside the device.
California Man Arrested for Explosives-Powered ATM Theft Attempts
Despite attempting to retrieve money from the ATM, Nguyen fled the scene empty-handed.
A few weeks later, on June 28, at around 2 a.m., Nguyen allegedly targeted another ATM at a First Citizens Bank branch in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego. He repeated similar steps, using a PVC pipe and a hose to connect to the ATM, causing electrical components to catch fire and smoke to billow from the machine.
California Man Arrested for Explosives-Powered ATM Theft Attempts
Again, Nguyen returned to the ATM in an attempt to retrieve cash, but his attempts were unsuccessful.
Investigators used surveillance footage to track Nguyen and his vehicle. A search warrant executed at his home yielded gas, black powder, potassium nitrate sulfur, explosive pre-cursor chemicals, and other equipment consistent with the devices used in the ATM theft attempts. A firearm was also discovered on the premises.
California Man Arrested for Explosives-Powered ATM Theft Attempts
Nguyen was arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of damaging property.
"Fortunately, neither of these incidents resulted in injury or successful theft of cash," U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement. "With the discovery of chemicals and equipment in the search today, future attempts were also thwarted."
