Two men were arrested after allegedly breaking into a DeKalb County gas station overnight Thursday and driving off with a Bitcoin ATM in the backseat of their car.
Erron Watson, 32, and Kendrick Johnson, 33, were arrested in Sandy Springs, less than 24 hours after forcing their way into a Shell gas station on Briarcliff Road and helping themselves to the ATM, according to a DeKalb police report.
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Bitcoin is a popular digital cryptocurrency that is decentralized and can be transferred between users on a peer-to-peer network.
According to the report, Watson, Johnson and a third unidentified man used crowbars to break into the business about 1:20 a.m. Minutes later, they were seen on the store’s surveillance system loading the bulky ATM into the back of a Chevrolet Malibu.
According to the report, one of the men dropped his Samsung cellphone outside the store while struggling to put the ATM, valued at $2,000, inside the car and drove off without it. The machine was so big, one of the car’s rear doors would not close.
Two of the men in the surveillance footage were wearing masks and the Malibu’s license plate was obscured by silver tape, police said.
But investigators were still able to track the suspects’ car, leading to their capture Thursday evening, DeKalb police spokesman J.D. Spencer said.
Watson and Johnson are charged with second-degree burglary and possession of tools for the commission of a crime, records show. They remain held at the DeKalb County Jail.
The third man involved in alleged ATM theft has not been captured, police said.
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