Authorities in St. Charles County have reported an incident involving individuals believed to be associated with a gang. These individuals traveled from Houston, Texas, to O’Fallon, Missouri, with the intention of tampering with or disabling an ATM. They patiently waited for the arrival of a repairman before proceeding to steal from the machine.
The robbery occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m. on August 10 at the Bank of America branch on Fallon Loop Road, near Highway K, as stated in the probable cause statement from the O’Fallon Police Department.
According to authorities, the victim was in the midst of performing maintenance on an ATM when a Toyota Camry pulled up behind him. Suddenly, he was ambushed by three individuals. The driver, a woman, remained inside the vehicle.
According to the police, a suspect named Pharrell Dembry (age not provided) forcefully threw the repairman to the ground, while another individual stood over the victim and made threats of violence. Dembry confiscated the victim’s two cell phones and received assistance in withdrawing the funds from the ATM.
The cassette held a total of $94,370 in U.S. currency. The cassette was placed in the back seat before the suspects drove away.
The victim’s cell phones were discarded from the Camry shortly afterwards in a residential area, as stated in the probable cause statement.
According to authorities, Dembry was apprehended in Texas just two days after the robbery, while behind the wheel of the Camry.
According to the police, the Camry, which had been rented, was equipped with a GPS device that indicated its presence at the crime scene during the suspected time of the robbery.
Surveillance video from gas stations in the O’Fallon area captured footage of the female suspect driving the Camry both before and after the robbery, according to investigators. Dembry and the two other men were accompanying her.
Furthermore, detectives discovered surveillance footage and sales receipts from a Walmart in Little Rock, Arkansas, which provided evidence of the group buying the clothing worn by the suspects during the ATM robbery.
The empty cassette was eventually found in a wooded area behind a Maryland Heights hotel that the four conspirators had rented, according to the police. A palm print matching Dembry’s was found on the cassette.
Police have reported that a group recently traveled to the St. Louis area with the intention of carrying out a series of targeted robberies. These robberies, commonly referred to as “jugging,” involve tampering with ATMs to prompt a response from the bank and dispatch a technician to fix the machine. After observing the repair technician’s arrival, the thieves proceed to launch an attack, seizing the opportunity to steal money from the newly accessible ATM.
According to authorities, Dembry was captured on surveillance footage tampering with a different ATM in St. Louis on the same day as the robbery in O’Fallon.
Dembry has been charged with first-degree robbery by the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
