SACRAMENTO — The incidents match a well-recognized sample, with a reconnaissance group surveilling automated teller machines, adopted by one or two burglars who would come again and make it rain money.
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The crew was prolific, hitting targets round California’s Central Valley but additionally as far-off as Washington state and Nebraska. Now that two suspects have been indicted, prosecutors recognized incidents throughout 5 states the place greater than $200,000 was stolen and different failed makes an attempt have been made.
In an indictment filed final month, Joel Morantes Leal and Endis Gonzalez Ortega have been charged with conspiracy and hacking or trying to hack ATMs. The indictment alleges the 2 labored with different unnamed individuals to connect “foreign devices” to ATMs that make them dispense money like loopy.
The charging information describe hacking incidents in Visalia, Tulare, and proof the crew’s automobile additionally traveled to Lake Tahoe, Bakersfield and Carson Metropolis, Nevada. There have been additionally alleged crimes in Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, and Colorado, in accordance with courtroom information.
Sarcastically, the ATMs themselves could have led to the arrests. Federal brokers have been in a position to hyperlink footage from surveillance footage to suspects’ social media profiles, in accordance with the felony grievance. Morantes Leal and Gonzalez Ortega have been arrested in Colorado and extradited to Sacramento to face the fees, information present.
Initially Revealed: August 4, 2025 at 3:18 PM PDT
