From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
St. Clair County — Investigators with the Trussville Police Department executed a search warrant at a residence in St. Clair County Friday, Aug. 9, 2019.
The action was related to attempted thefts of two ATMs at convenience stores in Trussville, said law enforcement.
See related: 2 attempted ATM thefts in Trussville under investigation
The first attempted theft of an ATM happened at the Shell station on South Chalkville Road around 3 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
Detective Ben Short said the person left the scene in a small van.
“They broke the glass to the door, attempted to steal the ATM,” said Short. “It was bolted to the ground; they were unsuccessful and left without stealing anything.”
The second attempt happened in the early morning hours of Monday, Aug. 5, at the Shell gas station on Highway 11 at Deerfoot Parkway. This time, the would-be thief was driving a U-Haul truck. Once again, the theft of the ATM was unsuccessful.
During the execution of the search warrant, investigators seized several items believed to be related to the crime. Among these items were two boxes of candy bars stolen from the convenience store, said officials. The candy bar boxes still had the shipping labels attached, which identified their origin.
According to police, the collection of evidence and recovery of a vehicle, used in the attempted theft of the ATMs, allowed for arrest warrants to be obtained for Austin Franklin of Odenville for two counts of burglary and one count of possession of burglary tools.
“Our investigators worked vigorously to identify the individual involved with this crime and the attempted ATM thefts and through quality police work (investigators) were able to identify the individual and put him behind bars,” said Detective Ben Short with the Trussville Police Department.
Franklin will be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail with a bond of $40,000.
