Men use stolen truck to destroy ATM and snatch a big haul from Florida bank, feds say

Julia Marnin
Updated ·2 min read
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Three men destroyed an ATM using a chain and a stolen truck to steal thousands of dollars from Chase Bank in Florida, federal prosecutors said.

Then, the trio led deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on a police chase after stealing $116,650 inside cash boxes on May 26, 2022, in Orlando, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Nearly a year later, Wendell Harp, 24, of Orlando, was sentenced to two years and five months in federal prison after pleading guilty to bank theft and burglary charges, the attorney’s office announced in an April 12 news release.

He’s the second person to be sentenced in the case after Carlos Tawan Reed Jr., 23, of Orlando, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, prosecutors said.

McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing Harp and Reed on April 12 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

The bank burglary and police chase

Harp, Reed and Deontrae Walden, 23, of Orlando, were caught after wrapping a chain around the Chase Bank ATM and using the stolen truck to break into it in May 2022, prosecutors said.

The burglary was caught on camera, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which shared footage on May 27, 2022.

The video shows a white truck driving away from the ATM with a chain hooked to the back of the vehicle — causing the machine’s casing to rip away.

After stealing the cash boxes inside, the trio escaped the scene in a rental car with Reed serving as the getaway driver, prosecutors said.

Reed kept evading deputies who pursued them “on the ground and in the air,” according to officials.

Deputies successfully stopped the car, which contained the stolen money, by using spike strips, prosecutors said.

Harp, Reed and Walden tried running before authorities caught them, according to the release.

Walden awaits a sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to bank burglary and theft charges, prosecutors said.

He’s facing additional charges in connection with earlier robberies involving Chase Bank between October 2021 and December 2021, according to an indictment.

Walden has admitted to taking part in five burglaries in the area, prosecutors said in a March 6 news release announcing Reed’s sentencing.

The FBI investigated the case along with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

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