JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three men were arrested last week and charged with an unsuccessful bid to steal a VyStar CU ATM and three other cash machines thefts.
The beginning of the end was on Dec. 20, when a stolen front-end loader with the VyStar ATM in its bucket tried to run over a police cruiser. One of the men was arrested after a chase and the two others were captured soon after, police said.
The crime spree began in September when someone started stealing construction equipment to wrench ATM machines out of their concrete mountings on the city’s north and west side, police said. The stolen ATMs would be hauled to a spot where they could be ripped open with more stolen construction equipment, then hauled away. A stolen U-Haul truck was used in one case, then a stolen church van that was later torched with a bank machine inside.
On Dec. 20, someone dragged a VyStar CU ATM out of the ground at a Food Lion parking lot. Officers found a trail of debris leading away from the parking lot to a stolen construction loader carrying the fourth stolen ATM machine.
Officers gave chase and arrested one of the suspects, Robert Anderson, 31, when he tried to run away. Ronald Mullany, 33, and Dwight Martin, 36, were tracked down and arrested this week for alleged roles in the ATM heists.
All three are charged with burglary, grand theft, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer, grand theft auto, arson and felony criminal mischief.
