Cary suspect may have joined military
A man accused of storing enough dangerous explosives in a Cary home that it forced authorities to evacuate neighbors and a nearby school skipped a scheduled court appearance Tuesday and may have skipped town to join the military.
A McHenry County judge issued a $150,000 arrest warrant for Dominic Bender after a lawyer appearing on his behalf said he believes the 27-year-old Schaumburg man enlisted in the armed forces and is training in Virginia.
"It's not a surprise that he's not here," attorney William Worobec said.
Bender faces three felony charges of unlawful use of weapons as a result of the Nov. 16 discovery in the basement of his wife's home. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum seven years in prison.
Authorities including the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Cook County bomb squad responded to the home a day after Schaumburg police arrested Bender for making harassing phone calls to his wife. During that arrest, police found 10 handguns, five rifles, four shotguns and 200 large, homemade firecrackers at the home where he had been staying.
Police then searched Bender's former residence on Crestview Drive in Cary, finding a two-pound homemade explosive powerful enough to destroy the home and possibly damage nearby buildings.
Because the home is within a few hundred feet of Prairie Hill School, officials as a precaution kept children from classes that day.