Bumbling crooks go to insane lengths to try to rip off ATM

nypost.com

Santa’s naughty list just got longer.

A pair of doofus thieves went through all the trouble of swiping an ATM by tying it to the back of a stolen SUV and ripping it out of a Texas 7-Eleven on Christmas Eve — only to fail to get any cash.

Insane security-camera footage shows the vehicle barreling into the site’s parking lot around 4 a.m. and two men, dressed with black gloves and masks, leaping out of the car.

Surveillance footage shows an ATM being dragged through a store, leaving a trail of destruction.

The 7-Eleven’s yanked ATM barrels through the store, leaving destruction in its wake. White Settlement Police Department

Two men, dressed in black, attach a metal cable to an SUV's trunk.

The two thieves had a metal cable ready in the trunk of their stolen car to assist in their crime. White Settlement Police Department

One of the crooks uses a metal object to smash through a glass window of the convenience store, then runs through its aisles toward the ATM with a metal cable attached to the SUV outside. He breaks open the bottom of the ATM, attaching the cable to the safe inside.

The SUV driver outside then slams on the gas, ripping the ATM from its corner, smashing through aisles on the way out. The driver floors it again, and the first thief bolts out of the way as the metal box explodes out of the store window.

CCTV footage of a thief in a convenience store attempting to tie a metal cable to an ATM.

The first thief broke into the 7-Eleven to tie the metal cable to the safe. White Settlement Police Department

CCTV footage shows a stolen SUV dragging a safe, leaving debris on the ground at a gas station.

The getaway car then drags the safe behind it, screeching onto the street. White Settlement Police Department

The driver then attempts to escape with the metal safe dragging behind their getaway car. The heavy box crashes into another vehicle before it’s pulled again behind the SUV, careening down the street in White Settlement, a suburb outside of Fort Worth.

Inside, the 7-eleven is destroyed, with shelves toppled and snacks covering the floor. In the security footage from outside the store, it’s unclear if the second thief ever made it back into the SUV.

The ATM was later found in a ditch near an auto dealership by cops, who were able to recover the safe and all of its contents.

A damaged ATM lies in a ditch.

The ATM was found in a ditch nearby, with all the cash recovered. White Settlement Police Department

The interior of a 7-Eleven convenience store with shattered glass and merchandise strewn across the floor after an attempted ATM theft.

The 7-Eleven was destroyed by the robbery. White Settlement Police Department

“At this time of the year you see that level of desperation, and that’s what makes it dangerous,” said Christopher Cook, White Settlement’s police chief, in an interview with WFAA.

Cops tracked down the SUV to a nearby parking lot and determined it had been stolen in Dallas, according to a post on X. Cook says police are still investigating the attempted robbery and haven’t arrested any suspects yet.