(NewsReady.com) – Thieves have been trying to make off with ATMs for decades. The cash-filled machines are a popular target for obvious reasons. California thieves recently used heavy machinery to steal one.
On August 2, around 6:15 a.m., two suspects pulled up to a SAFE Credit Union location in North Sacramento. One suspect arrived in a large green forklift, while another was in a white pickup truck. The person driving the forklift knocked the ATM over, then picked it up and tried to place it in the back of a truck. The machine fell to the ground and smashed apart. The suspect picked it up again and managed to place it in the truck at that point.
While this was going down, it appeared as if someone wanted to use the ATM but saw what was happening and drove away. After the thieves got the machine into the truck, they abandoned the forklift. However, they lost the machine while they were driving away.
Terry Sanchez spoke to KCRA 3 News and said that he was driving down the road when he came around a curve and hit the ATM as it was lying in the street. “It was just something you don’t expect every day,” he said.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi described the theft as brazen. He said, “People are getting creative.”
In July, thieves in Lake City, Florida, tried to steal an ATM by connecting chains to it and dragging it away. Police responded to a bank alarm around 5 a.m. and discovered the cash machine missing when they arrived. They observed drag marks in the grass and parking lot. Officers followed the trail of evidence and came upon a work truck pulling an ATM behind it.
The police pulled the truck over, and the thieves ran into the woods. They were not captured in the immediate aftermath of the accident.
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