The four Texans charged with lassoing a Roseville bank's ATM holding thousands of dollars in cash last month and yanking it free with a pickup truck are also suspected of similarly targeting three banks in Minnesota and two others in the Midwest, according to recently filed court records.
Police suspect the same Texans who lassoed an exterior ATM in Roseville targeted others in Minnesota
Roseville police say there have been 50 of these "hook and chain" crimes since 2020 carried out by suspects from Texas.
January 17, 2024 at 12:08AM
Roseville police said in a search warrant affidavit filed last week in Ramsey County District Court that they believe the men employed the same criminal tactic outside the Wings Financial Credit Union in Savage on Nov. 8, Minnwest Bank in Farmington on Nov. 19 and Mayo Credit Union in Rochester on Nov. 22.
The list in the filing, which asked for court permission to seize data from the men's cellphones, also points to the four hitting a bank in Springfield, Mo., on Oct. 20 and Hiawatha National Bank north of Milwaukee in Trenton, Wis., on Nov. 20.
Roseville police say the FBI is looking into their ultimately failed heist because it bears a striking resemblance to crimes committed elsewhere in the U.S. by the "Hook and Chain Gang" based out of Texas.
"Since 2020, ATMs throughout the United States have been accessed or damaged by persons operating with the same modus operandi," the affidavit read. "Persons from TX, using stolen-heavy duty trucks, and utilizing a hook and chain, have attempt to or successfully gained access to over 50 ATMs."
Charged in connection with theft and property damage in the Roseville case on Dec. 12 are Houstonians Christopher E. Merchant, 23; Larry D. Gill, 23; Kenneth D. Brown, 23; and Leonard D. Williams, 25. All were released from custody after posting bail and have court hearings in the coming weeks. A fifth suspect was charged but had his case dismissed due to what the county Attorney's Office described as lack of probable cause.
Descriptions of the crimes from police in Savage, Farmington and Rochester on Tuesday were nearly identical: A drive-up ATM was attached to a chain connected to a pickup and pulled from its foundation in the middle of the night. In each instance, the ATMs were located nearby, and the perpetrators eluded capture.
In the Roseville case, bank video surveillance captured Merchant taking a crowbar to the ATM containing $5,000 outside the Great Southern Bank near County Road B2 and N. Fairview Avenue about 4 a.m. before he and Williams connected it to chains attached to the nearly 3-ton pickup, the charges read.
Gill joined in trying to lift the ATM, but it fell over and never left bank property, the charges continued.
