An agent’s hunch cracks apparent ATM theft ring

YAKIMA — A federal agent who followed a hunch about a hammer helped crack what state and federal authorities believe is a crime ring responsible for a string of ATM thefts.

Scott Hunt, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Seattle, was investigating an ATM robbery in Auburn when he read an article in his hometown weekly newspaper, the Prosser Record Bulletin, about a similar case.

Hunt contacted local law enforcement officers to compare notes, and learned there had been a string of ATM thefts throughout the region.

He also learned that Yakima County sheriff’s detectives had identified a prime suspect after three people were arrested outside Prosser in February in an unrelated matter. Among the items seized then were four bags of burglary tools, including a framing hammer with a distinctive waffle pattern.

On a hunch, Hunt had the hammer sent to the Washington State Patrol crime lab, where an analysis revealed the hammer matched pry marks left behind in Hunt’s case.

Authorities allege Ronald Lloyd Clark, 38, headed a loosely organized crime ring from Yakima that is believed to be responsible for as many as 20 ATM thefts stretching from Prosser to the Puget Sound area.

Clark is being held without bail in the Yakima County Jail on a U.S. marshal’s hold.

At least five others have been arrested.

In addition to the Auburn theft and a front-end loader attack on an ATM at a Wells Fargo branch in Yakima, Clark has been charged in federal court in connection with the October 2002 burglary of the Buena post office. In state court, Clark has been formally charged with the theft in January of an ATM from a gas station near the Yakima Training Center and is a suspect in the theft of an ATM from the Ahtanum General Store.

"I was pretty stoked about it," Hunt said. "Matching up tool marks is like looking for needles in a haystack. … We really just lucked out being able to match those two together."

Hunt said more arrests are expected.