By Maxine Bernstein and The Oregonian/OregonLive
A sophisticated group of thieves that hit banks and ATMs across California spent time in Oregon, renting out an Airbnb where federal agents found power tools, blowtorch equipment and the robbers’ construction vests and helmet disguises, according to a federal affidavit.
Investigators tracked some of the suspected crew members to the Airbnb in Welches, which had been rented from Oct. 16 to 22, according to the affidavit, but when FBI agents moved in on Oct. 19, the occupants had “fled in haste.”
But agents did find what was left behind, the affidavit said: several large rolling toolboxes that contained “hundreds of pounds” of power tools, including portable saws, blowtorches, oxygen tanks, pry bars, sledgehammers and heavy-duty rope, as well as clothing the thieves apparently wore for the heists, including goggles, construction vests and helmets and face masks, the affidavit said.
Agents also discovered portable shades, which were sometimes used to cover windows to hide the crimes-in-progress, investigators said.
An indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court in Fresno charges 11 people with conspiracy to commit bank robbery. They’re accused in the theft of more than $4 million in at least 29 robberies of banks, credit unions and ATMs, mostly in California but also in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas, according to the FBI.
The thefts occurred between May and October of this year. At least two ATM robberies in Oregon matched the methods of those in California, but the affidavit didn’t identify where exactly those occurred.
The suspects used several short-term rental properties, including two Airbnbs in Welches, to launch their thefts, investigators said.
In many of the heists, a crew would scout an adjoining business at night and cut a hole through a wall to access a bank’s ATM room and then use blowtorches to get into ATM safes. They wore bright construction vests and helmets as they busted through the machines to steal money, investigators said.
In other thefts, they used blowtorches, saws and other tools to get into a bank and its vaults, the affidavit said.
Sometimes they deliberately triggered security systems at banks a day ahead to evaluate the time it took police to respond, according to the FBI.
Once inside a bank, they destroyed alarm systems, disabled security cameras with coverings or spray paint and activated cellphone signal jammers to disrupt communication service. They would also replace original lock boxes with new ones to try to maintain a semblance of normality, while spending hours executing the thefts in the middle of the night, according to the FBI. In some robberies, they taped paper over windows to conceal their work, the FBI said.
Nine people were arrested in California last week and two more in Washington state this week. They are mostly citizens of Chile, Peru and Venezuela and range in age from 21 to 45, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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