GREENFIELD — Police have identified a suspect in the December theft of more than $100,000 from the “Money Tree” ATM owned by Greenfield Savings Bank.
According to Greenfield Police Lt. Jay Butynski, police are pursuing a direct indictment through the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office for a male suspect from Texas. He is believed to be one of three suspects involved in the theft.
“The Detectives Bureau processed a bunch of different areas and crime scenes — vehicles, cellphone data and a bunch of stuff. I worked with some counterparts in the State Police, out east and locally, and from there they were able to identify one of the individuals out of the crew,” Butynski said. “The other two still remain to be identified. … If anything does come in, after speaking with that individual [suspect], we’ll be able to pursue them further.”
The 25-foot-tall sculpture in the Big Y plaza, also referred to as the “ATM Tree,” has since been fully renovated by the artist, Thor Holbek, but it will no longer contain an ATM.
On Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, the Greenfield Police Department responded within minutes of receiving reports that the ATM’s alarm went off at approximately 3:03 a.m. Upon arrival, Police Chief Todd Dodge said officers saw a large Ford pickup truck with its engine running next to the ATM. The front of the machine had been pulled off, exposing the area where cash had been stored. No one was inside the truck when police arrived.
“A large Ford pickup pulled up to the ATM, hooked up a chain to the front and ripped the front off, exposing the cash cartridges, and they made away with all the money in there,” Dodge said in December. “One of the chains they used to hook to the ATM to pull the door off actually got wrapped around a pole, so the truck actually got stuck. So when [police] arrived, they found the truck doors open, running, but unoccupied and the money and suspects gone.”
A Spruce Street resident had reported the truck missing only hours before the robbery, Dodge said previously. While reviewing security camera footage, State Police investigators discovered a second vehicle involved in the robbery, which had been previously rented out of Texas and later abandoned at Boston Logan International Airport.
“It seems like a second vehicle arrived shortly after that truck got stuck and they were seen running from it. A second vehicle pulls up on Mohawk Trail and it appears these individuals got in it and they [fled],” Dodge said in December. “It seems like these individuals knew what they were doing. This was obviously well planned at this point in time.”
Greenfield Detective Timothy Cooley, who played a lead role in the investigation, said the lack of physical evidence made it a particularly challenging investigation.
“We spent a lot of time drafting a number of digital warrants, cellphone warrants, which aren’t used very often in this part of the state,” he said. “It was a very complex case and it was a good collaboration between all of our resources to get us a little bit closer to cracking this case.”
Northwestern District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Laurie Loisel said she could not comment on the investigation.