4 charged in Wheaton, Warrenville arson spree
Editor's note: Justin Tosch received a pardon and expungement from Gov. Pat Quinn in 2015.
Revenge for a failed romance was the motive behind last month's spate of arson-related crimes in Warrenville and Wheaton, authorities said Tuesday.
Four young people may face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the bizarre series of fires on Aug 8. No one was physically injured, but two cars sustained fire damage.
DuPage Associate Judge Brian Diamond set $250,000 bonds for Dominique Caccitoll, 20, 646 N. Vista Ave., Lombard, and Daniel P. Wright, 23, 639 Gunderson Drive in Carol Stream.
Authorities also issued arrest warrants for the other two defendants - 18-year-old Justin M. Tosch, 579 Duane St., Glen Ellyn, and Kevin E. Williams, 20, 3S213 Briarwood Drive, Warrenville.
The four defendants are charged with attempted aggravated arson, attempted residential arson, arson and possession of an explosive or incendiary device.
Prosecutor Steven Knight said Caccitoll wanted to even the score with a Warrenville woman after a failed romance. To seek revenge, he said, Caccitoll enlisted the help of the three male defendants and provided gas money.
After filling a gasoline can at a Tosch relative's home, Knight said the defendants set out for Warrenville about 3:30 a.m. but stopped to practice on a car parked in Wheaton. Tosch and Wright are accused of physically igniting the car on fire.
Later, they are accused of torching the Warrenville woman's parked car. Back in Wheaton, while joyriding and drinking alcohol, Tosch is charged with randomly tossing a lit Molotov cocktail at a house. Authorities said Williams did the driving.
"There was a family of three sleeping inside the house," Knight said. "Luckily, it (the homemade gas bomb) hit a post outside the house and no one inside was injured."
A damage estimate was not immediately available. The DuPage County Arson Task Force, Warrenville and Wheaton police investigated the crimes. The four defendants are due in court next month for arraignment.