Phenix City Police Chief Ray Smith says the thieves used a stolen backhoe, a pickup truck and a flatbed trailer to pull off the job at a Wachovia branch in the eastern Alabama city early Monday.

Smith says the thieves loaded the ATM onto the trailer and headed north on Summerville Road. He says that along the way, the ATM fell off the trailer.

Smith says the thieves had abandoned the backhoe at the bank and had no way to load the ATM back onto the trailer, so they drove away without it.

Smith says the backhoe and the ATM have been processed for evidence.

Ledger Enquirer

Alan Riquelmy -

Here’s the plan — take a stolen backhoe, pickup truck and flatbed trailer, rip an ATM off its concrete base in downtown Phenix City and head north on Summerville Road.

One problem, as some would-be thieves discovered early Monday, is that the ATM just might spill off the trailer into the middle of the road.

That’s where police found it — worse for the wear, but still full of cash.

 “It sounded like a good plan at the time,” said Police Chief Ray Smith. “Lucky for us, it fell apart.”

About 3 a.m. Monday, officers responded to an alarm at the 13th Street Wachovia Bank, where they found the stolen backhoe. They then fanned out some patrols, eventually finding the machine near South and North Railroad streets on Summerville Road, Smith said.

The suspects were gone by then, though it doesn’t appear they got anything for their trouble.

Smith said the thieves apparently towed the backhoe to the bank, unloaded it and used it to get the ATM onto the flatbed trailer. Leaving the backhoe, they drove north on Summerville Road, pulling the ATM until it tumbled off.

That’s when the suspects, realizing they couldn’t get the heavy machine back on the trailer, left, Smith said.

Police already have processed the ATM and backhoe for evidence, the police chief said. Smith said he intends to release photo and video evidence, if recovered.