A Houston, Texas, man was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday for his alleged role in the Oct. 30 theft of $30,700 from an ATM at a Southern Bank branch at 2471 W. Jackson St., Ozark.
The Hauxeda reported in a Nov. 10 story that the suspect allegedly left his ID in a stolen truck used to steal cash from the ATM.
Nigel Dwane Luchin, 26, was charged in a two-count indictment that replaces a federal criminal complaint filed against him in November.
According to court documents, Luchin was part of a group of people who used a stolen Ford F-250 pickup to destroy the ATM at 1:26 a.m. and remove the cash.
The thieves used a chain and two large hooks to dismantle the ATM door, documents say, by attaching chains to the ATM and pulling the chain and hooks with the stolen pickup, which they abandoned a short distance away.
Investigators learned the pickup had been stolen from the parking lot of Tom’s Diesel in Nixa at about 12:30 a.m. the same night.
Officers reviewed surveillance videos from businesses in the area, which allegedly showed Luchin and others arriving at the area in two vehicles and leaving with the stolen pickup.
The vehicles were identified on a license plate reader and traced to two car rental agencies in Houston, Texas. Later the same day, a license plate reader in Houston captured both vehicles traveling in the same direction.
Ozark police searched the stolen pickup truck and allegedly found Luchin’s Texas identification card on the driver’s seat.
This case was investigated by the FBI and Ozark police.
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