Posted by CotoBlogzz 06-24-2010 11:30 AM
NEWPORT
BEACH, CA - Richard Dwayne
Bockman, Ricky Joe Coffey, Curtis Edward
Weber and Charles Earl Roberts are
scheduled to be arraigned on additional charges involved in a $400,000 conspiracy to steal Automated Teller Machines
(ATM) using two stolen trucks and a stolen forklift.
All
four defendants are being held on $1 million bail and all four defendants are charged with
four felony counts of grand theft, two felony counts each of arson,
commercial burglary, and vandalism, and one felony count each of
conspiracy to commit an unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, conspiracy
to commit grand theft, conspiracy to commit arson, and the unlawful
taking of a motor vehicle.
If convicted, Roberts faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and eight months in state prison.
Bockman
faces additional felony charges including one count each of attempted
grand theft, vandalism and the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
Weber faces an additional felony
charge for the possession of methamphetamine for sale.
Between
May 30, 2009, and May 1, 2010, the defendants are accused of committing
four ATM thefts using stolen pick-up trucks, a box truck, and a
forklift. The thefts of the ATMs and trucks occurred in the Cities of
Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Fullerton, Long Beach, and Yorba Linda.
In
each case, the defendants are accused of driving in a stolen truck
early in the morning to businesses where ATMs, primarily School First
Federal Credit Union ATMs, were free-standing or anchored into the
ground with concrete. The defendants are accused of using a pallet jack
or stolen forklift to move the ATM from the store into the back of the
box truck and then fleeing the scene. In one case, Bockman is accused
of attempting to steal an ATM on his own, but abandoning the ATM in the
back of a stolen pick-up truck in the parking lot, leaving the cash and
contents inside.
On May 1, 2010, the defendants are accused of
leaving the stolen box truck in a Home Depot parking lot in Orange and
setting fire to the inside. They are accused of burning the truck and
an ATM that had been left inside to destroy the evidence and fleeing
the scene.
Many of the thefts were captured on store
surveillance videos. In all, the defendants are accused of stealing
over $400,000 in money and property, including the ATM cash, check
deposits, and machines, two vehicles, and the forklift.
On
May 3, 2010, Bockman was arrested at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa
after being linked through DNA to evidence left behind at a crime
scene. At the time of his arrest, Bockman is accused of being in
possession of over $19,000 in cash.
On May 4, 2010, Weber and
Coffey were arrested at a hotel in Orange. Coffey is accused of being
in possession of $3,000 cash and a Harley Davidson motorcycle he had
purchased using stolen money. Weber is accused of being in possession
of $2,000 cash, prescription pills, drug paraphernalia, and over 20
grams of methamphetamine.
The Orange County District
Attorney's Office filed charges related to some of the thefts on May 6,
2010, and the investigation continued. A warrant was issued for the
arrest of Roberts. Roberts was arrested on the warrant at his sister's
house in Orange on June 10, 2010. He is accused of being in possession
of a Harley Davidson motorcycle he had purchased using stolen money.
The
two motorcycles, $25,000 in cash, and the abandoned property from the
attempted ATM theft were recovered. Most of the stolen cash and
property have not been recovered or was destroyed in the arson.
This
case was investigated by the police departments in the Cities of
Anaheim, Brea, Fullerton, and Orange, the Orange and Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Departments, the Orange Fire Department, and the Orange
County Crime Lab.
Anyone with additional information is
encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator
Anthony Sosnowski at (714) 347-8814. Deputy District Attorney Israel
Claustro of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
