2 men arrested in theft of ATM from Florida bank

According to the Winter Haven Police Department, Hernandez and Sanchez stole the backhoe from a construction site near the bank at Highway 27 and Lucerne Park Road.

Although the thieves made an attempt to flee, but were caught by the police after a short while when they stopped at a traffic light.

Police arrested two Clewiston men they say used a backhoe to steal a Winter Haven bank ATM.

The alarm went off at the ATM at bout 11 p.m. Friday. It was driven through a field to the bank and used to destroy the housing and detach the ATM. They then sent out a message for authorities to Be On the Lookout for a truck bed with an ATM in it. They issued a look-out bulletin for a large vehicle with an ATM in the bed, and soon after, a Polk County sheriff’s deputy spotted a suspicious Ford F-250 pickup truck.

Hernandez and Sanchez told the deputy they had been out getting scrap metal, but couldn’t remember where the got the items in the bed of the truck.

Two Florida men are accused of going to great lengths to steal an ATM from a bank, the Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday (July 11).

According to an arrest report, damage to the ATM building was about $50,000, the ATM was worth about $50,000, and the machine was loaded with about $20,000.

Hernandez had a prior warrant from Hendry County for violating his probation.

Sanchez and Hernandez have been charged with grand theft resulting in property damage.