Thieves made off with an ATM from a southeast Atlanta condominium complex before daybreak Friday, and one resident said he believes the heist was an inside job.
The theft occurred around 4:15 a.m. at the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts in the 100 block of Boulevard, according to Atlanta police Capt. Van Hobbs.
Hobbs told the AJC that the thieves “entered the apartment area, unbolted the ATM from its foundation and dragged it out.”
He said that investigators believe a black van seen in the area might have been involved.
Resident Korey Stamps witnessed the theft.
“I was sitting in my front room when I heard a loud banging sound repeatedly, so I got suspicious,” Stamps told the AJC. “I went to my door, checked through the peephole and saw three gentlemen coming through the side entryway with white towels wrapped around their heads.”
The men “seemed to be toting what looked to be a refrigerator, which ended up being the ATM,” Stamps said.
The ATM was mounted “right in front of the office, with a big glass window on display for everyone to see,” he said. “There’s a camera right above the elevator that shows the entire lobby, but the camera was ripped out, too.”
Stamps said the men hauled the ATM out on a green hand truck, which was later found behind the building.
“They didn’t look like they were in a rush at all,” he said. “They just kind of moseyed on by, like, ‘we know where we’re going.’”
Stamps, who has lived in the complex for about a year, said that despite a security booth about 30 yards away that is supposed to be manned around the clock, “none of the security officers saw anything whatsoever.”
Stamps said he was also told that the complex’s security cameras had been inoperable since last week, leading him to believe that the heist, coming so soon after the cameras went down, was an inside job.
“Definitely an inside job,” he said.
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