Naperville man charged in Bartlett standoff
A Naperville man who barricaded himself inside a Bartlett pasta manufacturing plant faces felony charges in connection with the nearly five-hour standoff.
Mark H. Armorer, 25, of the 1300 block of Old Dominion Road, was charged Tuesday with criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and tampering with a security, fire, or life safety system at Rana Meal Solutions LLC, 550 S. Spitzer Road.
On the morning of Oct. 2, Armorer, a contracted security guard for Rana, pulled a fire alarm at the 100,000-square-foot facility in the Brewster Creek business park, police said.
Another employee told Bartlett firefighters responding to the fire alarm that Armorer had a suspicious item that resembled an explosive device, Sgt. Geoffrey Pretkelis said.
After a search of the plant with bomb-sniffing dogs and forensic teams, investigators did recover an item as evidence, but it was not explosive, said Pretkelis, who would not comment further citing the investigation.
Armorer also damaged furniture, part of a wall and a video surveillance camera during the standoff, police said.
Bartlett police, assisted by a Northern Illinois Police Alarm System special response team, evacuated the building, established a large perimeter around the plant and began trying to make contact with the Armorer, who had been uncooperative with authorities.
The standoff ended when the man was peacefully taken into custody by a SWAT team that had gone into the plant searching for him.
On Tuesday, Armorer was released from a hospital where police took him for a health evaluation Oct. 2.
A DuPage County judge ordered Armorer held on $50,000 bail. He posted bail and was released as of Tuesday night.