(BCN) — Ukiah police this week announced the arrests of two men and a woman from the Bay Area for allegedly using a device to steal more than $100,000 from a bank late last month.
On Sept. 29, officers responded to a report of a theft at a Savings Bank of Mendocino County branch at 1100 Airport Park Blvd., where a branch manager reported that money had been stolen overnight from two ATMs, according to police.
Investigators determined that two male suspects arrived in a Toyota Prius and allegedly used a generic key to open the exterior panels of the ATMs and install an electronic device inside them, then left the scene before returning to pose as customers, police said.
Security footage showed one suspect in the back of the Prius using a cellphone to remotely activate the ATM to dispense cash. The two suspects remained there to allegedly make hundreds of fraudulent withdrawals, according to police.
Investigators traced the Prius to an address in Daly City, where the registered owner reported that he had rented the vehicle to Julia Rodriguez-Ramos, “who had acted suspiciously and been dishonest about the vehicle’s location prior to returning it,” police said in a news release Wednesday.
Detectives ended up tracking Rodriguez-Ramos to an apartment in San Francisco, where they found her and two men matching the characteristics of the suspects in the bank security footage. They were identified as Barkley Mora-Pacheco, 27, and Edgardo Mendez-Vanegas, 23.
Police said a search revealed numerous pieces of evidence linking the suspects to the crime, and all three provided conflicting accounts of where they were that night.
Rodriguez-Ramos was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime, while the two men were arrested on suspicion of grand theft and conspiracy. They were taken back to Mendocino County to be booked into jail, according to police.
Mora-Pacheco and Mendez-Vanegas said they originally were from Venezuela, and Ukiah police said that after coordinating with Daly City police and the FBI, they learned that the method used in the theft, known as “jackpotting,” is commonly associated with South American crime groups. Authorities are investigating whether the suspects are responsible for other thefts.
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