Texas Man Sentenced for Role in ATM Heist at Southeast Minnesota Bank

Austin, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Texas man convicted in an ATM theft from a southeastern Minnesota bank has been sentenced. 

See Also: Young Austin Man Admits to Threatening Group of Girls With a Gun at a Rochester Restaurant 

Law enforcement identified him as one of three men who hooked up the outdoor cash machine to a truck and pried it open in January. 

He was captured in Iowa after escaping a pursuing sheriff’s deputy, the criminal complaint says. 

Get our free mobile app

Texas Man Sentenced for ATM Theft from First State Bank in LeRoy, MN

22-year-old Markell Deshawn Kinney of Houston, TX was charged with felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property, property damage and fleeing. 

The Mower County Sheriff’s Office responded to an ATM alarm around 3:20 AM on Jan. 11 at First State Bank in LeRoy and learned a silver pick-up had been involved in the theft. 

Camera footage showed two men prying open the outside casing of the ATM and using a chain to connect the cash machine to a truck. A third person is then seen driving forward and uprooting the ATM, the charges say.  

A responding deputy found and began following the suspect vehicle as it drove south out of LeRoy towards Iowa. The suspect vehicle overturned as it rounded a curve on a gravel road along the Minnesota-Iowa state line, the complaint says. 

The deputy momentarily spotted Kinney exiting the vehicle but lost sight of him in the darkness.

He was later arrested by law enforcement in Stacyville, IA, which is about 20 miles southwest of LeRoy. 

Court records indicate Kinney pleaded guilty to the theft, property damage and fleeing charges in March in exchange for the dismissal of the receiving stolen property charge. 

On Thursday Kinney was given a two-year stayed prison sentence. 

The court document indicates the ATM is worth more than $35,000. It does not list how much cash was stolen or provide a description of the two other suspects.