Police issue warning after string of ATM thefts from Edmonton hotels
After a string of recent automated teller machine thefts in Edmonton, police are cautioning businesses to protect their machines.
Business owners are encouraged to bolt ATMs to the floor and place the machines in well-lit, high-traffic areas that are covered by surveillance cameras, police said in a release Friday.
Police are investigating several ATM thefts and attempted ATM thefts at hotels in the city.
Two male suspects attempted to steal an ATM from a hotel near 105 Avenue and 111 Street on March 7. Residents confronted the men and they fled on foot.
A separate incident took place at a hotel near 53 Avenue and Calgary Trail on March 11.
Two male suspects are alleged to have broken into the hotel’s games room, police said.
Surveillance video shows the men loading an ATM into a black, newer-model Dodge Ram pickup truck behind the hotel.
A woman with long, dark hair was driving the truck, police said.
Police are also investigating the theft of cash from an ATM at a hotel near 76 Avenue and 45 Street on Wednesday.
Two male suspects broke into an ATM and took an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.
Investigators have yet to confirm whether the same suspects are responsible for all three of the thefts.
Police are asking for the public’s help identifying the suspects.
Anyone with information can call police at 780-423-4567 or submit anonymous information to Crime Stoppers.
Several more ATM thefts have been reported in Edmonton and nearby communities, including Stony Plain and Fort Saskatchewan, in recent months, police said.
An ATM was stolen from a pizza restaurant in northeast Edmonton on March 8. Before it was stolen, that ATM was the subject of an attempted theft a year earlier.