Many of us have found the need to go to the money machine to get some money, but Orange County sheriff's investigators claim Daniel Eamon Sweeny went to as many as 24 money machines to get the money machines.
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Automated teller machines were being pulled out of businesses in Orange County for about a year before a break came in the case in February. The investigation of the theft of an ATM in Laguna Niguel produced a partial vehicle description. And that resulted in a patrol deputy trying to stop such a vehicle, which darted off and led to a short chase. The driver ditched the ride and escaped on foot.
However, the vehicle that was left behind included forensic evidence that pointed investigators to 40-year-old Tustin resident Sweeny, according to a statement from Lt. Jeff Hallock, the sheriff's spokesman. This led to the man being put under surveillance.
Hallock says that over several weeks, Sweeny was tracked by investigators driving around in the early morning hours “appearing to be casing commercial buildings as targets for possible thefts.”
Sweeny was discovered behind the wheel of a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee in the Mission Viejo area on Sunday, when he was stopped and placed under arrest for suspected possession of stolen property, Hallock says. Search warrants later produced more evidence in the case against Sweeny, who is suspected of having stolen at least 24 ATMs, according to the spokesman.
Sweeny was booked into Orange County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, and he had an arraignment hearing Tuesday. But the investigation is ongoing and the sheriff's department has posted two videos that you'll find on the next page that detectives hope will jog some memories …
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Anyone with information that can help the investigation is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714.647.7000. Anonymous tips may also be left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS (855.847.6227) or via occrimestoppers.org.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.