Suspects use backhoe to steal ATM

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) – Two men have been arrested after allegedly using a backhoe to steal an ATM from a central Florida bank.

Winter Haven police say 54-year-old Francisco Hernandez and 50-year-old Jesus Antonio Sanchez, both of Clewiston, were booked into the Polk County Jail on Saturday on grand theft charges.

The men are accused of stealing the backhoe from a construction site, then using it to tear down the structure at a CenterState Bank branch in Winter Haven that housed the ATM just before midnight Friday. Police say the men loaded the ATM unto the bed of a truck and fled, but were caught a short time later.

The ATM had not yet been opened, the police said.

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