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.
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