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tawood

tawood

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Tim
My partner has a case where two suspects broke into a grocery store to try to steal the contents an ATM machine. The video is very poor quality, but it shows they brought a very unusual tool with them to try to pry open the ATM. The tool looks brand new / very expensive, and we think if we could ID the tool, we might ID the perpetrators. The tool looks like a giant (like 4 foot long) set of bolt cutters, except it is not bolt cutters. It does not have the usual "pivot point" of a set of bolt cutters, and it does not have the usual bolt cutter blunt tips. The tips on this tool are more pointed, and somewhat triangular.
We attempted to draw what this tool looks like (crude, I know), but the tip is correct in the drawing, as well as the colors...
Anyone know what this would normally be used for? BTW, it seemed to easily cut through the ATM door (even though the knuckleheads took 44 minutes, they never got to the cash).
upload_2017-11-22_11-48-32.png
 
Reminds me of limb loppers
 
Seems like it could be a non-hydraulic version of the spreader tool fire fighters use?
 
It might have been a rebar cutter.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Seems like it could be a non-hydraulic version of the spreader tool fire fighters use?
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking if it was some type of spreader as opposed to cutter. then also started thinking if it was a crimper of some sort. dunno yet but I like this "Law and Order, PoA edition"
 
Where can I buy a cookie cutter like that?
 
It is a wedge spreader but appears to be an older one. All the newer ones are either hydraulically or mechanically operated by means other than long handles and strong arms.

I must have been scratching my head while Clark was typing. :D
 
Now that I'm comparing the video to "flange spreaders", I realize that the handles are not even like my drawing, but one handle runs straight back, while the other runs off to the side. We also thought the guys were carrying a light, but now we realize that there is a light attached to the spreader...
 
Norman said:
It is a wedge spreader but appears to be an older one. All the newer ones are either hydraulically or mechanically operated by means other than long handles and strong arms.

I must have been scratching my head while Clark was typing. :D
Click to expand...
Our fire department guys say the ones with a light are newer...
 
The problem was that the video was so dark, my mind would "fill in" what it wasn't seeing...it appeared that the spreader had long arms, but instead it has a long black body that looks like arms. The actual spreader is a Genesis...the head is what identified it.

upload_2017-11-22_13-59-23.png

Now the real work begins!
 
Yay bad guys are about to go down!
 
eman1200 said:
did we crack the case?!?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately we’ve had a set back: we called the distributor and one month ago they had a break-in with several of these stolen. The biggest hurdle is, the distributor is located in Dayton, which is about a four hour drive from here. I can’t fathom how someone would bring this all the way up here just to break into a grocery store ATM.
 
Do you have local volunteer rescue fire departments?

If so, I'd start calling - see if there are any guys who asked about joining a local VFD and who said they had some tools. . . . or just if anyone asked to join recently. Pay them a visit - be friendly and ask to check their truck out- look in the garage.

Also - if you can the model number- I'd do an ebay search for completed sales - also - get a court order for the local craigslists - see if any were sold after the theft.

But you know all that already - maybe not the VFD angle. Lots of wannabes in that line of 'work.'
 
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