Friday morning at 3am Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies in East Montgomery County were dispatched to a silent alarm on the ATM at the Wells Fargo Bank located on Community Drive and US 59 in New Caney. The first deputy who was in the Walmart parking lot arrived within three minutes.
On his arrival he found a Stewart and Stevenson forklift in the parking lot idling and the ATM scattered about the parking lot. Requesting back up and a manager from the bank respond to the location he started to check the immediate area.
It was determined that the forklift had been stolen from Community Ace Hardware. The person or persons broke into the warehouse in the rear of the building by cutting locks on the fence and on the building. Once inside they took the time to use the forklift to move a pile of sheetrock before driving across the parking lot.
Once at the bank they raised the ATM completely off the ground ripping wiores and anchors from it and began what appeared to be rolling it.
When the ATM was found in the parking lot by deputies almost one hundred feet from its mount the safe was still intact.
It is unknown why it was still in the parking lot. Some speculate that it had been loaded on a truck or trailer and as they fled it fell out.
The case is still under investigation as video is being analyzed.
