Video captures Graham vending machine theft
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Area law enforcement officers are searching for the two men pictured in this surveillance video image while apparently forcing open a soft drink machine at the front entrance to The Smokehouse delicatessen and meat market in Graham. Authorities have asked that anyone who might be able to identify the suspects call the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office at 660-582-7451.
The Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office has issued a request seeking the public’s help in identifying two suspects who broke into a soft drink machine early Friday in front of The Smokehouse delicatessen and meat market on Jackson Street in Graham.
Sheriff Randy Strong said the theft occurred shortly before 2 a.m., and that the suspects were photographed on a surveillance video that shows one of them using a burglary tool to open the machine.
Strong said the suspects escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash in a white Cadillac. Authorities were unable to obtain the license plate number from the video image.
According to the sheriff, the machine has been the object of a number of similar nighttime thefts over the past several years. During previous incidents, thieves also broke into another machine located at a car wash in Maitland about two miles to the west.
Strong said the Maitland device has since been modified, making the lock more difficult to force.
But while the Maitland location was left undisturbed Friday, Strong said a second vending machine was robbed in Skidmore sometime during the night, possibly by the same suspects.
The series of thefts caused the owner of The Smokehouse to install a video surveillance system that rendered high-quality images of both suspects — young, white males with close-cropped dark hair and wearing T-shirts. One of the men has an extensive “tribal”-style tattoo covering his right arm.
Anyone who believes they have information relating to the theft, or that might point to the identity or whereabouts of the perpetrators, is urged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 660-582-7451.
