By Mark Price
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. — A man’s ambitious plan to use a stolen excavator to carry away a bank’s ATM was thwarted when a cop at the police station next door saw the crime in progress, according to investigators in the Florida Panhandle.
The failed heist happened after sunset April 16 at the Regions Bank that sits next to the DeFuniak Springs government complex, including city hall.
“An officer observed a person operating an excavator in an attempt to take the ATM ... located right by the police department. When the officer attempted to contact the subject, he fled the scene,” the town’s Office of the City Marshal said in an April 22 Facebook post.
“Video footage became available and detectives were able to identify the suspect ... who agreed to come for an interview.”
When questioned, the 43-year-old “admitted to stealing the excavator and attempting to steal the ATM,” police said.
“His reasoning: ‘I would rather rob a bank than work for my brother,’” police said.
He was arrested and charged with grand theft of construction equipment, criminal mischief over $1,000 and burglary of a structure with property damage, police said. Bond was set at $7,500.
A photo shared by the police department shows the drive-thru ATM was overturned and its roof sustained heavy damaged from the excavator’s boom.
The department’s Facebook post has gotten hundreds of comments and reactions, including some sympathizing with his inability to work for a relative.
“I’m sure he thought no one would notice an excavator carrying an ATM down the road,” one commenter wrote.
DeFuniak Springs is about an 80-mile drive northeast from Pensacola.
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