Man Convicted In 2006 Hinsdale Pipe Bomb Blast

HINSDALE, IL – A federal jury on Monday convicted a man in the 2006 pipe bomb explosion at the Hinsdale train station, prosecutors said.

On Sept. 1, 2006, Thomas James Zajac, now 70, put a pipe bomb in a trash can at the station. Last year, Patch interviewed a woman who was there at the time.

The device exploded during the morning commute, causing damage to the station and injuring a station agent, prosecutors said.

About a month later, Zajac mailed an anonymous letter to the Hinsdale Police Department, threatening that the police had "f----- with" the wrong person, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.

Zajac said he had "fired a warning shot" the previous month, prosecutors said. He said police actions would "likely eventually lead to the death" of at least one person in Hinsdale.

Prosecutors said Zajac also said he wanted to see whether the department was "bright enough or possess(ed) the character to stop this death."

Evidence at trial showed that Zajac, a former Oakbrook Terrace resident, felt disrespected when Hinsdale police arrested a family member the previous year, prosecutors said.

Zajac was convicted on all three counts against him – attempting to destroy property with an explosive device, possessing an unregistered destructive device and willfully making a threat through the mail to kill or injure a person with an explosive device.

The property destruction count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Each of the other counts is punishable by a maximum of 10 years.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 13.