Boxer shorts, the FBI, and a ‘wild goose chase’ of stolen ATMs that led to an Exeter farmer’s pond
What started as a routine chore Friday morning soon left Wynn Hall submerged in suspense.
What started as a routine chore Friday morning soon left Wynn Hall submerged in suspense.
The Exeter farmer had driven his four wheeler down to check on the pond, bordered by corn fields, that sits on a 12-acre swath of farmland his family has owned for a century.
His first clue was the portion of his barbed-wire fence that was cut and laying on the ground. The second clue was what he saw sticking out of the water.
At first, he thought it was a discarded appliance. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had ditched a refrigerator or stove in the pond. But what he found marked a first for Hall.
“Definitely something strange,” he said.
Partially submerged in water – an automated teller machine.
Hall found a piece of it that had been broken off laying nearby. He also found the blade of a reciprocating saw, which explained what happened to his fence.
He immediately called the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office, which in turn notified the York County Sheriff’s Office.
An ATM had recently been stolen from nearby McCool Junction, and initially, it was suspected the banged-up machine sitting in Hall’s pond would have a matching serial number.
Meanwhile, the problem remained of how to withdraw the machine from the pond.
Most of the water was drained, and a York tow truck driver arrived to the ATM out.
“The guy ended up stripping down into his boxer shorts and went in there and pulled the thing out with his tow truck,” Hall said. “I asked him if this is his most strange experience and he said actually he’s had some more – and I didn’t bother to ask what that was.”
The ATM was hauled to York, where investigators learned that it was, in fact, not the missing machine from McCool Junction. Instead, it was determined to have been taken from a Cornerstone Bank in York.
The contents? Around $5,000 cash – sunk funds now believed to be in the hands of whoever took the ATM.
York County investigators have suspects, but say no arrests have been made. The case, they said, is part of a larger investigation with the FBI involving several stolen ATMs from across eastern Nebraska. Parts of the other machines have been found scattered throughout multiple counties, leading law enforcement on a “wild goose chase.”
For Wynn Hall, it’s back to business as usual on his farm. But he won’t soon forget his once-in-a-century discovery.
“That was a strange find for sure.”
