Cops Stop Cash Flow

ATM-theft-cartoon1

On September 25, 2015, at 3:10 a.m., an undercover officer was conducting static surveillance on the PLS Check Cashing store located at Spring Valley Road  and Coit Road.  While conducting surveillance, the officer heard glass breaking at the Shell Station located at 14040 Coit Road. The officer was directly across the street and he noticed a dark-colored Dodge pickup truck backed up to the broken front glass door.  He then observed a masked suspect running inside the location and placing a chain around the ATM.  The officer immediately notified dispatch and asked for back up. The suspects were able to pull the ATM loose from the store and load it into the back of the pickup truck before the cover officers arrived.  However, the Deployment Team followed the suspect vehicle as it fled westbound on Spring Valley Road toward North Central Expressway.
A uniformed officer, driving a marked squad car, got behind the suspect vehicle but the suspect vehicle pulled away at a high rate of speed.   The uniformed officer did not chase suspect vehicle; instead, he allowed the undercover deployment officers to maintain surveillance in an effort to perform a tactical apprehension.  Deployment officers were able to maintain visual contact with the suspect vehicle and guided Air 1 to their location as they were crossing the Margret Hill Hunt Bridge.  Air 1 followed the suspect vehicle until it was abandoned in the 3100 block of Kingsbridge Street in West Dallas.  Deployment and uniformed officers from various divisions flooded the area looking for the suspects.  Air 1 spotted one of the suspects run to a parked car in the 3000 block of Bickers Street.  Officers apprehended the suspect from inside the parked car without incident. The suspect is identified as Travis Dallas, a 23-year-old Black male, birthdate 8-14-92.
After further investigation, officers discovered that the vehicle used in this offense had just been stolen from the 5800 block of Harvest Hill Road.   Fortunately, the officers recovered the vehicle and ATM.  Travis Dallas was transported to headquarters and interviewed by detectives from the Major Crimes Unit. He admitted to his role in stealing the suspect vehicle and the burglary of the Shell Gas Station.  Travis also identified his four other accomplices in this offense.  Travis was arrested, placed in Lew Sterrett Jail, and charged with a second-degree felony, Theft of an ATM.