A Chicago resident suspected of placing an explosive device at the Evanston’s Police Department’s Howard Street Outpost, 633 Howard St., was formally charged with the crime Monday.
Nineteen-year-old Sergio Chaves appeared before the U.S. District Court in Chicago, where he was charged with one felony count of possession of an unregistered destructive device.
According to EPD Cmdr. Tom Guenther, Chaves called the police department June 18 and told them the bomb would be found in a garbage can in an alley outside the building. Chaves did not say he was the source of the bomb.
After the Evanston Police Investigative Services Division decided the tip was credible, bomb technicians from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department disabled the bomb.
EPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives then conducted interviews and collected physical evidence to determine who placed the bomb behind the building.
Guenther said Chaves planted the bomb so that he would receive a reward once he phoned in the tip to the police.
“I believe (his motivation) probably would be monetary. That’s what the investigation revealed,” Guenther said.
