Three Men Accused Of Stealing ATMs, Cutting Them Open, Lighting Them On Fire

Three men were jailed today for allegedly stealing two automatic teller machines in Orange County, cutting them open and lighting them on fire to cover their tracks.

“One of the suspects was arrested at the Morongo Casino, where he was apparently gambling away the loot,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Investigators recovered $71,000 in cash and $169,000 in deposited checks, all of it from one ATM alone, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said.

The suspects were identified as Richard Bockman, 43, of Yucca Valley; Curtis Weber, 38, of Placentia; and Ricky Coffey, 44, of Orange. Bockman was arrested Saturday, while Weber and Coffey were arrested Tuesday, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

All three were being held without bail.

Investigators suspect the three tried to steal an ATM in May of last year at the Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union, 1051 W. Bastanchury Road, Fullerton Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said. The thieves wrapped a cable around the ATM, yanked it out and dragged it around the parking lot behind a truck in an unsuccessful attempt to bust it open, Goodrich said.

Something apparently spooked them and they fled the scene, leaving behind DNA evidence in the stolen truck, Goodrich said.

Fullerton Det. Mike Hines worked the case, but was not able to tie it to a suspect until he teamed up with Orange County sheriff’s investigators who had a similar ATM burglary, Goodrich said.

The suspects removed another ATM in the predawn hours of April 26 from a Stater Brothers grocery store in Aliso Viejo, said sheriff’s Investigator J. Delmonico. That was the one that yielded the $71,000 cash and the deposited checks, which police said were useless to the robbers but could cause accounting problems for banks and account holders.

Investigators got video of that theft and, between the DNA evidence recovered from the Fullerton burglary, authorities were able to identify suspects, Delmonico said.

The three are suspected of stealing an ATM in Brea at about 5:30 a,m on May 1. The men allegedly used a stolen forklift to yank a credit union ATM out of a wall in a shopping center at 22500 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Brea police Sgt. Bill Smyser said.

Brea police did not say how much money was in the third ATM, or if the thieves were successful any of it. The forklift and burglary tools were left behind in Brea.

Last weekend, the thieves reportedly tried to destroy evidence by torching a 26-foot box truck with a hydraulic tail lift that they had stolen in Anaheim, Delmonico said. Authorities found the burned-out truck and the ATM from Aliso Viejo behind a Home Depot store in the city of Orange about 10 a.m. Saturday, Delmonico said.

But the thieves left behind more evidence in the burned-out truck, Delmonico said.

Bockman, who was accused of using some of the stolen money to gamble at the casino, was arrested Saturday, Delmonico said. Investigators don’t think he spent much of the stolen money, he added.

All three men were booked on suspicion of burglary, grand theft and unlawful taking of a vehicle. Bockman was additionally booked for committing a crime while out on bail and arson.