News

Theft ring targets Manhattan ATMs

May 10, 2004

NEW YORK - A band of Manhattan thieves is apparently stealing ATMs from convenience stores and carting them away, cash, power cord and all, according to a report in the New York Post.

The Postreport, citing police sources, said that 20 machines have been stolen in the borough since January -- each filled with between $4,000 and $22,000 in cash. In total, thieves have netted nearly $200,000.

"These thieves are very professional," a law-enforcement official told the Post. "They have just one thing on their mind: getting the ATM and getting out of there."

The thieves enter the closed stores late at night by breaking open their metal front gates and entering their front doors, which are sometimes left open by shop proprietors who falsely believe the gates provide adequate protection.

They then tear up the ATMs, which are usually bolted to the floor -- and somehow cart the machines away unseen. Police haven't found anyone who has gotten a good look at the thieves, and there has been no surveillance footage from inside the stores.

In two cases, however, cops found suspicious black vans near the scenes of the burglaries.

One of them was at a deli on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea, in which an attempted heist was thwarted before the thieves could make away with the ATM.

"Somebody from the bar next door noticed my gate was open," said owner George Melis, 66. "He shouted inside, saw what was going on, and he went into the bar and called 911."

The police came and two thieves ran off, leaving the van behind.

Although five empty machines have been recovered in Brooklyn and Queens, none has held any fingerprints. Because of the machines' sheer weight, detectives believe multiple suspects are involved, according to the Post.