Sheriff: Burglars used stolen bucket loader to 'demolish' bank building, steal ATM

CHELAN COUNTY -- Sheriff's deputies are searching for at least two brazen criminals who allegedly used a stolen bucket loader to "demolish" a bank building, grab an ATM vault from the rubble, load it into a stolen dump truck and drive off.

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office said the bank building destruction, and the theft of a dump truck that was likely related, occurred early Sunday morning in Entiat.

Around 4 a.m., individuals stole a large bucket loader from Pipkin Construction in Chelan County, and drove the vehicle down the street to a Cashmere Valley Bank building. The thieves used the bucket loader to ram into a bank building, sheriff's deputies said, and grab an ATM. Though the ATM was destroyed in the process, deputies say the vault portion of the ATM was still intact when stolen.



Deputies say the burglars used the loader to place the ATM vault in a large vehicle, possibly a dump trunk. The bucket loader then was left running at the scene.

Cashmere Valley Bank estimates that the burglars caused at least $50,000 in damage, not including the undisclosed amount of money in the vault.

As deputies investigated the brazen burglary, they received a call from Bob's Apple Barrel with report of a dump truck theft. Deputies discovered that two subjects on motorcycles broke into the Entiat building around 3 a.m. Sunday, ransacked the office and stole a full-size dump truck. The dump truck was later found abandoned.

Deputies say the theft of the ATM and the dump truck are directly related.

Detectives are investigating the two burglaries. Anyone with information on the thefts is encouraged to call the Chelan County Sheriff's Office Tip Line at 509-667-6845.