2 men investigated for alleged ATM tampering in Michigan, Minnesota
Federal authorities are investigating two men in connection with a scheme referred to by authorities as "ATM jackpotting" and for allegedly targeting four banks in Michigan and one in Minnesota.
One of the suspects, Robert Rosales Rivero, is scheduled for a detention hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. His home state was not immediately available.
No court date has been posted for the other person named in the case, Geniver Antonio Pinuela Testa, a citizen of Venezuela who has been in the United States since 2022 and had registered a vehicle in Florida last fall.
The two were tracked to a hotel in Lakeville, Minnesota, where they stayed in October.
The criminal complaint filed in the case charges both men with conspiracy to commit bank theft and bank theft in violation of federal law. A special agent with Homeland Security Investigations at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alleged their efforts involved working as a team of two to tamper with the machine covers and the electronics inside. The intent is to allow someone to force the ATM to dispense cash.
Investigators say money was stolen in this way at four Isabella Bank branches in Nottawa Township, Barryton, Midland and Clare in Michigan, and also at a Lakeview Bank in Minnesota. The charges pending in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan involve the Isabella Bank machine tampering, during which the bank lost a total $107,635.
A similar tampering of an ATM at Lakeview Bank in Lakeville, Minnesota, resulted in an additional $14,400 being stolen, investigators said.
Security video from the incidents showed suspects dressed in a similar manner, and approaching the ATM on an electric scooter. One of those security cameras was able to pick up on the face of one suspect, the report said, and the U.S. Border Patrol was able to obtain a potential identity match.
That information helped lead investigators to the registration of a Florida vehicle whose location was picked up at a hotel in Shakopee, Minnesota.
Further investigation and assistance came from Michigan State Police, Minnesota State Patrol, the Lakeview (Minnesota) Police Department and Shakopee (Minnesota) Police Department.
