Two or more thieves robbed ATMs at a bank and credit union in Salem, and attempted to rob a third during the early hours of Monday morning, according to the Salem Police Department.
According to a press release from the department, officers responded to an ATM alarm at Progressive Ozark Bank. When the officers arrived, they discovered that the ATM had been broken into and the cash boxes removed. A short time later officers discovered a truck that had been used to facilitate the theft. The vehicle had been abandoned less than four blocks from the location of the theft.
According to the Salem Police, this stolen truck was used in the robbery. It was found abandoned near one of the crime scenes.
An ATM door and tow hooks and chains remain in the vehicle from the incidents.
Officers discovered that during the same time, the Riverways Federal Credit Union ATM located near Master Donuts on Highway 19 had been broken into as well, and those cash boxes had also been removed.
An officer also discovered that there had been another attempt to rob the ATM at Town & Country Bank’s east location on Scenic Rivers Blvd., though nothing was reported stolen from that ATM. Damage had been done to the face of the machine, but the theft was unsuccessful.
According to Salem Chief of Police Joe Chase, officials are working alongside the two locations to determine how much money was stolen during the heist and to identify suspects. The case remains under investigation.
The Salem Police asks anyone with information regarding these incidents to contact them at (573) 729-4242.
