Both men were captured on video using the massive backhoe to tear apart the structure housing the ATM, according to police.
Police have nabbed two men and charged them with grand theft after they allegedly stole a backhoe and then tried to steal an ATM at a central Florida bank.
Authorities arrested Francisco Hernandez, 54, and Jesus Antonio Sanchez, in the town of Winter Haven, according to a New York Times report.
Both men, who are from Clewiston, were sent to the Polk County Jail on Saturday, where they face charges of grand theft. Police say the men first stole a backhoe from a construction site and then used it to tear down the structure that housed an ATM at CenterState Bank branch in Winter Haven late on Friday night. They then loaded up the ATM on a flatbed truck and sped off, although they were apprehended not long after they left a huge mess at the scene. They had reportedly been unsuccessful in their bid to open the ATM and get at the cash inside.
The suspects had apparently told officers according to reports that they were trying to gather scrap metal, and they couldn’t remember where they got the items that were found on them.
Winter Haven is in central Florida in Polk County, and as of the 2010 census it had a population of 33,874.
