SEATTLE — Two suspects faced a judge for this first appearances Saturday, accused in a series of recent ATM burglaries. The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office said it plans to file charges, if appropriate, immediately when it receives the required investigation documents from police investigators.
"We want to reassure business owners that we are taking property crimes very seriously," said KCPAO Director of Communications Casey McNerthney. "Particularly with people in repeat acts, there's a reason why we asked for a high bail here and we expect to get additional cases from police- and we intend to act on those immediately."
Seattle and Bellevue Police Departments conducted the investigation together. SPD said the suspects are accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and causing tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to businesses.
SPD said officers served warrants at a Tukwila motel Friday, arresting them both and impounding two vehicles. Detectives are still working to confirm how many and which cases the arrested suspects are connected to, but say this has been an ongoing problem.
Over the past year, detectives have investigated more than 60 break-ins in the Seattle area, in which suspects have used trucks or other heavy equipment to break into ATM's and cash registers, according to SPD.
KCPAO said it will be watching for each of those cases to be closed, and plans to file charges wherever appropriate.
"As they come in, even if its weeks or months as the investigation goes on, we're going to make this a priority," McNerthney said. "Each of these cases will be screened by our High Priority Repeat Offender Unit."