WSECU posted this to their Facebook page Monday, explaining that employees at their Chehalis branch discovered the entire ATM in their drivethrough had been stolen overnight. 'An abandoned fork lift and a mess to clean up was all that remained this morning when the police arrived,' according to the Facebook post. 'Quite the start to April!' Police are currently investigating the theft. 'We are working with law enforcement and our machine vendors to pursue the thieves and to get this service back for you quickly,' WSECU posted. 'All transactions from over the weekend should have posted to your accounts normally and we have confirmed that the machine itself does not store debit or credit card numbers.
Area law enforcement officers are continuing to investigate the theft of a drive-through ATM in Chehalis early Monday morning, and have identified persons of interest.
Several 911 calls relate to the eventual theft of the ATM, according to police.
The first incident was reported at 10:16 p.m. Sunday in the 1500 block of North National Avenue. An employee at a business drove by and noticed a fork lift was parked next to the gate, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
The person checked and found someone had attempted to hotwire the forklift and drive it through the gate, but was unsuccessful and left it behind.
At 4:11 a.m., police responded to the WSECU location 2000 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue after the credit union reported its entire drive-through ATM had been stolen.
Police believe a person or persons stole a different forklift and used it to dislodge the ATM and load it into the back of a U-Haul truck, later reported stolen in the 1200 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue. The forklift was abandoned near the building.
At 3:19 p.m. Monday, deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 1900 block of Rice Road after receiving a report of a suspicious and possibly abandoned vehicle, according to Chief Deputy Dusty Breen.
Deputies recognized the vehicle from a description released by the Chehalis Police Department in connection with the earlier incident. They confirmed the truck had been stolen and arrested two people — Tiana Marie Harrison, 25, and Zachary Ryan Rosenthal, 27, both of Tacoma, on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle. Rosenthal was also arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, Breen said.
As a tow truck was hauling the stolen vehicle away, Breen said it hit a bump “and the back door flies open and everybody there could see the ATM in the back.”
Neither suspect has yet been charged in association with the theft of the ATM, Breen said, referring further inquiries back to the Chehalis Police Department, which is investigating that matter. It was unclear as of Tuesday afternoon if the ATM had been opened or recovered still containing cash.
Rosenthal is scheduled to make his first appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on felony charges this afternoon. Prosecutors declined to charge Harrison with a felony, but as of 2:20 p.m. today she was still in custody at the Lewis County Jail.
