Man charged with tampering with gas line in attempt to kill people inside home

ELBURN, Ill. - A Waterman man, who previously lived in Batavia, faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly tampering with the natural gas line to an Elburn home so that gas would spray freely inside the home, knowing someone was in the home at the time.

Frank E. Ryan, 33, was charged with two felony counts of attempted murder, a felony count of criminal damage to property, two counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct and two counts of misdemeanor battery, according to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office.

Prosecutors allege the morning of Jan. 19, Ryan rerouted a natural gas line by drilling a hole in the exposed gas line outside a home, drilling a hole through the home’s exterior wall, connecting a tube to the gas line and placing the other end of the tube through the hole into the home’s interior. He also allegedly covered the home’s doorbell camera with duct tape.

Two people were inside the home at the time, one of which found the tube and called police, prosecutors said.

Ryan appeared in Kane County bond court Sunday, and was released on bail with the condition that he is to have no contact with any of the victims and that he surrenders any weapons and his FIOD card to police, prosecutors said.

He is due back in court Jan. 30.