Deputies say ATM theft in Burke Co. connected to escaped Florida inmates

Deputies are searching for two men accused of stealing an ATM from a gas station Tuesday morning in Burke County, and said the incident is connected to an escape from a Florida jail last week.

Authorities with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office said they responded to an ATM alarm at the Shell station located at 8807 Old NC 10 in Hildebran and found that the machine had been stolen.

Deputies said a heavy-duty logging chain was found at the scene and collected as evidence.

Officials said surveillance footage provided by the owner of the gas station showed two men in a white four-door truck using the logging chain to rip the machine from the building before driving off.

The surveillance video, shared with Channel 9, shows one of the men wrapping a chain around the ATM, which was bolted to the floor. Seconds later, the driver of the truck hit the gas and the machine flew through the front door.

"It looked like they were well prepared for that type of break-in and theft," said Maj. Banks Hines, with the Burke County Sheriff's Office. "They did it very quickly. It looked like it was not their first time."

The owner of the gas station, Gary Styles, said he was woken up by a call about the burglary around 2 a.m.

"It's pretty frustrating when you don't get much rest and then someone does something like that," Styles said.

Customers of the gas station said they hope the men are caught soon.

"Maybe get the Lord in their life because their life is not right," customer Robert Chester said. "Who does that?"

Detectives said the ATM was found Wednesday afternoon in McDowell County near the Allied Industrial Company in Marion. Investigators said surveillance footage showed that the suspects drove behind the business in the same truck recorded at the gas station and then left a few minutes later.

Officials said the men pried the machine open with a screwdriver and emptied it of money.

Breaking Burke- you can see the door damaged during the breakin. Deputies say ATM has been located in McDowell. Money gone pic.twitter.com/zYkjIBBWN7
— Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) November 22, 2017

Deputies said they are working closely with authorities from Florida to find the men because the truck they were in matches one that was stolen shortly after three inmates escaped from Wakulla County Jail last Friday.

One of the escaped inmates, Casey Martina, was arrested on Tuesday, but the other two men, 44-year-old Donald Cotterman and 44-year-old Joel Cooper, are still missing.

Both Cotterman and Cooper were in jail on burglary charges.

Detectives said they later learned that a 2007 Pacifica recreational vehicle was stolen from the Peeler Road area of Rowan County before Martina’s arrest. All three of the Florida fugitives are believed to have been involved, detectives said.

Officials said the RV was taken out of state and that they’re now trying to locate it in Virginia.

Investigators also said that the three men were found to have been involved in several property crimes in Georgia, Virginia and Rowan County.

Authorities said Cotterman and Cooper were last together with Martina in Statesville and are considered armed and dangerous with an AR-15 and .22-style rifle. They added that Cooper and Cotterman are possibly driving a white commercial work truck with a Georgia registration, and may be fleeing west out of North Carolina.

Detectives said they have obtained felony larceny charges in Rowan County for both Cooper and Cotterman.

(Donald Cotterman, Joel Cooper)

Martina is being detained in the Rowan County Jail and faces the same charges.

Anyone with information regarding the incident, or anyone who has seen the truck involved can contact the Burke County Emergency Communications Center at 828-438-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 828-433-3333.

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