FUGITIVE WARRANT ISSUED FOR TEEN IN EXPLOSIVES CASE
Thursday, June 17, 2010— A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for a Mokena teenager accused of taking part in an illegal fireworks-making operation that included the possession of thousands of illegal explosive materials, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced Thursday.
Michael Dorosz, 19, of the 11900 block of West 195th Street, is charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a felony. Investigators believe he may have fled Illinois since that incident, but may be in contact with people in suburban Chicago. He is known to associate with people in Northwest Indiana and further south, in the Monticello and Lafayette areas of Indiana.
Dorosz was charged after a week-long investigation into explosive materials recovered from a home in the Timber Ridge Trailer Park in Matteson.
Earlier this month, Dorosz pleaded guilty to possession of fireworks in Will County. On May 4, he was arrested by Mokena police after 47 cases of fireworks were discovered on the porch of his home. He pleaded guilty on June 8 and paid a $250 fine.
On June 10, Cook County Sheriff’s Police responded to a call of a burglary in progress in the 0-100 block of Candlegate in the Timber Ridge Trailer Park. When they arrived, they found a woman and her 5-year-old daughter inside, along with a dog locked in a cage.
Felicia West, 21, provided proof that she is the owner of the trailer but said she simply locked herself out of her home and had to crawl through a window to get inside. But the responding officers noticed numerous boxes and barrels of explosives inside the home.
An investigation determined it was enough materials to fill a cargo van and which could have been used to blow up an entire city block. It took Cook County Sheriff’s bomb technicians and officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 81 different explosions to fully destroy the materials on Friday.
Recovered were:
- 300 lbs of 1.4 explosives (small consumer fireworks) and 1.3 explosives (large professional fireworks)
- Approximately 51 lbs of flash powder
- Approximately 200lbs of aluminum powder
- Seven 50 kg containers of suspected potassium perchlorate
- 3,300 M type devices
- 1,000 empty 3 x 1 ¼ inch cardboard tubes
- 4 empty 50lb containers of aluminum powder
Though West was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon, child endangerment and animal cruelty charges, detectives continued searching for others involved in the illegal fireworks operation.
That investigation led to the arrest warrant being issued for her stepbrother. Dorosz is 6-0, 200 pounds and has numerous tattoos all over his body.
West is now free on $5,000 bond. Her next court date is set for July 1.
Anyone with information about Dorosz’s location can contact Cook County Sheriff’s Police detectives at 708-865-4896.