News

ATM 1, skinny would-be thieves 0

September 25, 2003

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - An attempted ATM theft was scotched due to gravity.

According to a report in the Chicago Daily Herald, Naperville police are investigating the attempted theft of an ATM on Sept 24 from Edward Hospital.

Officials believe a man and a woman lurked in the main lobby of the hospital until they managed to cut the ATM's electrical cord.

The apparent plan was to whisk the machine away. Hospital security officers found a dolly in the lobby that wasn't supposed to be there and a piece of the ATM lying on a toilet in a locked washroom stall.

The couple left the hospital in a rented van, officials said.

Police believe the slender physique of the would-be thieves probably foiled the scheme. The man was described as being 6-feet-2 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds. The woman was 5-feet-5 inches tall and weighed about 130 pounds.

"I don't think they knew how heavy an ATM machine can be," said Naperville police Sgt. Joel Trumper in the Daily Herald report. "If they were both 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds, maybe they could have tried."