Five men are facing serious charges after using a heavy-duty truck and chains to rip an ATM from its moorings in a Roseville bank heist gone awry. The suspects, four hailing from Texas and one from Minnesota, didn't get far with the cash machine before getting into a high-stakes standoff with police that ended at a nearby hotel, detailed Bring Me The News.
In the early hours of a cold Tuesday morning, when they were reportedly spotted fleeing the scene with the chains trailing behind their pickup truck, the group embarked on a hapless journey that would swiftly lead to their undoing. While attempting to evade capture, the would-be robbers drove over a median and a large rock before the truck, disembarked by its driver, crashed into a parked car and a school bus, according to a criminal complaint cited by FOX 9. Despite their claims, the evidence suggested otherwise. Kenneth Brown, the 23-year-old driver from Houston, was taken into custody after a foot chase, claiming to have merely sought shelter in the truck due to the cold, per information provided by law enforcement.
Investigations uncovered that Great Southern Bank's alarm systems were triggered at around 4 a.m. Surveillance video then showed several individuals, including Christopher Merchant, Larry Gill, Leonard Williams, and Dekorius Durham, attacking the ATM with a crowbar and attaching it to chains in an attempt to dislodge it — moves aligning with tactics used by the so-called "Hook and Chain Gang" as reported by Bring Me The News.
As the suspects barricaded themselves inside a Key Inn hotel room, police and the Ramsey County SWAT team engaged in a prolonged standoff. Following the orders of the police which the suspects kept ignoring, authorities were forced to enter the room with a search warrant through the exterior windows - an action that resulted in the arrest of the four remaining suspects. A prior offense involved the same Merchant, who pleaded guilty to a similar crime in Florida just months earlier, we learned from Bring Me The News.
All five men have been charged with theft and first-degree property damage, and their bails have been set in a recent court appearance, while the investigation continues into other related thefts across the state. In a case that has echoed more than 50 similar instances since 2021, the criminal complaint indicates a striking pattern of offenses repeating themselves, authorities state. The next court dates for the accused span from late December to early January, as per court documents referenced by FOX 9.
