Two suspects wanted in Florida for using small explosives to rob ATMs in the Tampa Bay area have been arrested in North Georgia.
The Oconee County Sheriff's Office announced on its Facebook page that Mawdo M. Sallah, 33, of Clearwater, Florida and Kirk Johnson, 34, of Anderson, South Carolina have been charged with blowing up an ATM at the Bank of the Ozarks branch located at the intersection of Virgil Lankford Road and Epps Bridge Parkway. The pair apparently used a homemade device to gain access to the ATM, but Sheriff Scott Berry said the safe inside the machine was left intact and the pair escaped with no money. Berry said Jackson County Sheriff's Office deputies were able to apprehend the two as they fled the crime scene.
Sallah and Johnson were both charged with first degree arson, manufacture of an explosive device, second degree criminal damage to property and conspiracy to commit a felony.
The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa has charged Sallah and Johnson in connection with several similar crimes in Florida. The pair is accused of stealing nearly $70,000 from several ATMs between November 2019 and January 2020. The two suspects are also believed responsible for similar crimes in South Carolina.
