“I recently had a case with a funny twist. It was a home burglary case that turned into to a victim refusal after I determined it was the reporting parties own child that had stolen all their electronics. This is where it gets interesting. Some of the electronics stolen were turned into an ecoATM at one of our local grocery stores by their son. I found out through interviews that they were trying to circumvent the ecoATM by tying electrical cord on a cell phone then allowing it to be taken into the machine. They then would turn in a second phone during which time they would try to yank the cord and pull the original phone back out of the machine so they could use it again, essentially double dipping on the ecoATM. The photos taken by the ecoATM clearly show the cell phone with electrical cables or cord wrapped around it prior to being submitted. You can also see one of the suspects standing there with the cable running from the machine to his hand as if ready to yank the original phone back out. I don’t know if this is happening in other areas but I thought it was interesting and something to share. It’s nice that this ecoATM reports with LeadsOnline and takes such nice photos. Once I showed the reporting party pictures of their son doing this they quickly wanted to drop” the issue and charges. “”
Det. Chad Benson
Nampa Police Department
Idaho