| June 27 2009 Thieves walked into the Hilton Garden Inn in Daytona beach and helped themselves to the ATM -- the whole machine, officials said.
The ATM was not bolted to the floor of the hotel at 189 Midway Ave., Daytona Beach Police spokesman Jimmie Flynt said, and now police are looking for the two men who pulled the heist.
Two men are first seen on the hotel's surveillance video about 4 a.m. Saturday.
One lets the other in through an outside door into a stairwell.
About an hour later, police believe the same two men -- with a clothing change -- are back inside.
Video shows one milling around the lobby while talking on his cell phone, possibly acting as lookout, while the second comes through a side door with a dolly and he wheels the machine out of the building within a minute.
This is the third time since November thieves have made off with entire ATM machines out of local hotels, police said.
The other two thefts were at the Courtyard Marriott Inn on Richard Petty Boulevard on June 21 and Nov. 19.
Though all three thefts happened in hotels, the real victim in all three cases is J.W. Brinkley of ATM Solutions out of Jacksonville.
"So far, no one's been hurt," Brinkley said in a phone interview. "I could care less about equipment."
Brinkley's "family business" supplies ATM machines for many hotels in the Daytona Beach area.
"We're bolting a couple of machines down as we speak," he said. Installing "screamers," alarms that make a lot of noise when the machine is tilted, is also in the works, he said.
The ATM machines are worth upward of $2,500, Brinkley said.
None of the machines ever has more than $1,000 inside.
Machines are loaded randomly, based on when they empty, which Brinkley tracks by computer.
"It's a complete loss to us," Brinkley said. "We can't get insurance for the machines."
Nonetheless, the thefts aren't going to put Brinkley out of business.
He believes the same people are responsible for all 3 machines vanishing.
"We've been in business for 15 years, and I'm not going out," he said.
"I am thinking about putting stickers on the machines to tell (thieves) not to get rid of the machines, so we can get our computers back."
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07-01-2009, 03:31 PM
