ATM Bomber Ordered to Pay Debit to Society After Heists in San Diego, Penasquitos

A Chula Vista man who blew up two ATMs in an attempt to steal the money inside was sentenced Friday to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Chad Engel, 50, pleaded guilty to federal charges last year for his role in an explosion that damaged one ATM at a California Coast Credit Union and another that destroyed an ATM at a gas station in Miramar.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says that on July 4, 2017, Engel and co-defendant Scott Petri planted a pipe bomb underneath an ATM at the California Coast Credit Union on Ruffin Road. The explosion damaged the machine, but the men were not able to access the money within.

On Aug. 13, 2017, according to prosecutors,  the men targeted an ATM located outside a Chevron station on Miramar Road. They drilled a hole into the machine's housing, pumped gas inside and ignited it. The explosion destroyed the machine and, this time, the men fled with about $7,000 in cash, according to prosecutors.

That, however, was not the entirety of their ATM crime spree. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the men also broke into a the Super Laundry laundromat in National City on June 18, 2017, and tried to break into an ATM. They were unsuccessful at getting into the machine but stole about $140 from the laundromat, according to prosecutors.

One week later, they stole an ATM from a 76 gas station in Rancho Penasquitos, moved it elsewhere and cut into the machine in order to take the money inside, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Officials did not detail how much money they made off with in that heist.

“This is a just sentence for a defendant whose dangerous actions caused significant damage,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement sent out on Friday. “If you use explosives to break the law, you are going to prison for a long time.”

Petri pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to a time-served sentence for almost five years already spent behind bars. Engel received a 138-month sentence on Friday.