Brooklyn Park Police Arrest Texas Suspects Linked to ATM Theft Spree
Two young men from Texas remained in the Hennepin County jail Tuesday accused of holding up an ATM repair worker at a Brooklyn Park bank.
The case, according to investigators, is part of a criminal pattern that shows people from Texas coming to Minnesota to rob ATMs.
The suspects, Ryan Rashad Powell, 18, of Humble, Tex., and Zacoby Omarrian Terrell, 19, of Houston, are accused of stealing $217,000 from the Wells Fargo ATM in the 8400 block of Zanewood Avenue in Brooklyn Park.
Both Powell and Terrell are charged with felony robbery. In addition, Powell is charged with fleeing police in a motor vehicle.
According to the criminal charging documents:
Two men in ski masks approached an ATM technician who was working to fix a money jam. The repair worker told police that the robbers took numerous cartridges of cash and fled to a white Chrysler minivan.
Police searched for the robbers and located the minivan in nearby apartment parking lot. Officers approached the minivan with weapons drawn when the vehicle took off at a high rate of speed, the complaint read.
Numerous officers pursued the getaway vehicle during a pursuit that was at “high speeds and spanned almost two miles.” Police were able to stop the minivan with a PIT maneuver.
Three occupants in the vehicle got out and ran. Police arrested Powell and Terrell. A third individual was not located.
“Officers searched the vehicle and located over $215,000 in cash stuffed into duffel bags,” the complaint read. “This roughly lines up with the loss reported by Wells Fargo from the ATM, which was approximately $217,000.”
Groups Arriving from Texas “To Rob ATMs”
The complaint said both suspects have no ties to Minnesota and stayed in local motels in the nights leading up to the robbery.
Brooklyn Park investigators also say they are “aware that numerous groups of males have come up from Texas to Minnesota in recent months to rob ATMs.” Court documents also state that, in some instances, these groups have put GPS trackers on ATM technician vehicles to find open ATMs.
Police requested a high amount of bail money after one defendant was heard on jail calls speaking with a family member about “fleeing the state once he is sprung on bail.”
Both suspects were scheduled to make their first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
