Would-be thieves withdraw ATM

Marisa O’Neil

Some hapless thieves yanked an ATM from a liquor store early Friday

morning, but the unauthorized withdrawal got no further than the

parking lot.

Police showed up at Cheers Liquor on Mesa Verde Drive East after a

robbery alarm sounded at about 6 a.m. Friday, Costa Mesa Police Sgt.

Marty Carver said. When officers got there, they found the ATM lying

in the parking lot and the front window of the store smashed, he

said.

“It looks like they backed into the window because there were tire

tracks there,” Carver said. “Then they put some kind of strap around

it and pulled it out of the store.”

But that’s as far as the cash machine got, he said. Either the

strap broke or the alarm scared the thieves off because they left the

machine lying right on the asphalt, Carver said.

When Hassan Haddouch, the owner of a nearby coffee shop, got to

work at 7 a.m. he saw police working on the crime scene. He’d heard

about the attempted heist but the joke was on the thieves, Haddouch

said.

“He never leaves any money in it,” Haddouch said of the liquor

store owner. “A guy broke in and took the machine, but they found out

it was empty and took off.”

Coffee shop customer Jacob Feuer said the botched attempt sounded

like something he’d seen on a television show. In that case, he said,

the thieves had left their bumper -- complete with license plate --

at the scene of the crime.

“That’s really the stupidest thing you could do,” he said. “It

shows the stupidity of criminals these days.”

Workers hammered away on the liquor store’s temporary al fresco

front Friday afternoon, getting ready to put in a new window. A bare

spot on the floor next to the nonexistent window showed marks where

bolts had been removed.

A clerk in the store denied anything had happened.

“A delivery guy backed into the window. The ATM is right here,” he

said, pointing out an ATM set at the far end of the counter, well

away from the store’s front.

Police don’t have anyone in custody and no surveillance video

recorded the endeavor, Carver said.

Anybody with information about the attempted theft is urged to

call Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Dan Holford at (714) 754-4933.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.