Five men were indicted in Forsyth County this week for allegedly plotting to steal Bitcoin crypto-currency from a local resident in January.
The Bitcoin the men tried to steal reportedly amounted to nearly $1 million. Bitcoin is a digital currency not centralized in any bank and can be exchanged online for cash.
On Monday, Trivette Lane Adams, Matthew Schwartz, Robert Jacob South, Justin Eric Ellison and Michael Anthony McDermott were each indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to commit robbery by force, both felonies.
The case began when the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office received a report about people coming from out of state to possibly commit a Bitcoin robbery, deputies said.
Adams, Schwartz, South and McDermott were arrested by deputies in a Forsyth County hotel, allegedly in possession of zip ties, duct tape, bandanas and latex gloves, in late January. They were released when it could not be proved they had committed a crime.
However, the sheriff’s office continued to investigate the men, and later that night deputies said they connected them to the planned robbery report they had received.
Adams, 20, from Texas, and McDermott, 18, from California, were arrested the next day near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport trying to leave the state, according to deputies. South, 21, from Norcross, and Schwartz, 18, from California, were soon captured in Chicago, deputies said.
Deputies also identified Ellison, 20, of Illinois. He was arrested in May after being extradited.
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