NYC bodega owners sound alarm about wave of ATM thefts
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York City bodega owners are sounding the alarm about a recent wave of ATM thefts.
In the last two months, the machines have been targeted in The Bronx and in the East Village.
In the most recent incident on Friday, thieves broke into a bodega and ripped an ATM right through the door.
In fact, in a number of the thefts, the suspects used a van and a metal chain.
Bodega owners say this is an emerging crime pattern and they want the city to take notice.
"We've never seen anything like this before," Fernando Mateo of the United Bodegas of America said. "Putting a chain on a gate, ripping off of its structure, tyingup an ATM machine, dragging it, and stealing it. We need to know that if we invest here in the city that you are going to protect us."
Bodega owners say the brazen ATM thefts have left them with tens of thousands of dollars in damages.
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