Thieves crash van into DMV, steal ATMs
Police are searching for five men who crashed a van into a state Department of Motor Vehicles office in East Point and stole two ATMs.
The early morning theft at 4125 Welcome All Road was captured on surveillance video by DMV cameras around 4:30 a.m., East Point police spokesman Cliff Chandler said. The alleged burglars were spotted fleeing in another van, which was found, set ablaze, nearly three hours later in northwest Atlanta at 120 Anderson Avenue.
A security guard working at the DMV office, feeling outnumbered, took cover and called 911 from the scene, said Josh Waites, office of special investigations for the state Department of Revenue. Waites said the burglars completed the theft within three minutes.
Georgia motorists will experience some repercussions from the break-in, as the Anderson Avenue branch, the only DMV site where car titles can be processed, was closed Thursday and may be closed longer, Waites said. The office serves “hundreds” of customers a day, he said.
East Point police are currently searching the van left behind at the DMV for clues.
— Photographer David Tulis contributed to this report
About the Author
A native Atlantan, Boone joined the AJC staff in 2007. He quickly carved out a niche covering crime stories, assuming the public safety beat in 2014. He's covered some of the biggest trials this decade, from Hemy Neuman to Ross Harris to Chip Olsen, the latter of which was featured on Season 7 of the AJC's award-winning "Breakdown" podcast.
