Two men from Texas were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery following a series of ATM vandalizations designed to steal cash when repair technicians worked on the machines, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. The suspects, identified as Ahmon Hogg, 22, and Seth Coles-Body, 23, appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle last Thursday, facing allegations that paint them as part of a robbery ring with activities spanning across the country.
The duo's scheme involved disabling ATMs using a glue-like substance, laying in wait for a technician to arrive. Upon the technician's attempt at repair, they would then, threaten and assault them in order to gain access to the cash cassettes inside the machines. This audacious approach to theft reached a climax during the holiday season of last year when, on December 23 and 24, banks like Bank of America had prepared their ATMs with extra cash stores for the Christmas rush. The case was publicly detailed by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller, who shed light on the criminal complaint against the two men.
Incidents in Renton and Vancouver, Washington displayed a pattern when ATMs were rendered inoperable followed by physical confrontations initiated by the suspects when technicians appeared. In one alarming incident, a technician, after being accosted, managed to escape despite being threatened with a screwdriver. Moreover, the suspects' vehicle and their attire were caught on bank surveillance cameras, which later tied them to the crime scenes, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington.
Further connections to these crimes were made when Hogg and Coles-Body, were also linked to similar ATM tampering cases in early January in Arizona. Local law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with the FBI and the Columbia River Organized Crime Task Force, managed to intercept the individuals, albeit initially leading to their release. Their freedom was short-lived, however, as on March 7, a technician in Redmond was robbed under eerily familiar circumstances involving, once again, a compromised card reader. Days later, Coles-Body was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol with a significant sum of cash while attempting to cross into Mexico.
A criminal complaint and subsequent arrest warrant were issued on July 2, and the men were detained following a traffic stop in Mississippi on July 3. Discovering stolen firearms in their possession, the men were taken into federal custody. They could face up to five years in federal prison if convicted, yet it must be emphasized that these charges are mere allegations and the suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, as clarified by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. The investigation into their alleged crimes is currently active and ongoing.
