PRESS RELEASE

Texas Man Indicted for Stealing from ATM at Ozark Bank

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Houston, Texas, man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for his role in the theft from an automated teller machine (ATM) at an Ozark, Mo., bank.

Nigel Dwane Luchin, 26, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Luchin on Nov. 6, 2023.

Luchin is charged with one count of entering a bank with the intent to commit bank theft and one count of bank theft.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, Luchin was part of a group of unidentified subjects who used a stolen Ford F-250 pickup truck to destroy an ATM at Southern Bank, located at 2471 Jackson Road in Ozark, Mo., at 1:26 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2023. They used a chain and two large hooks to dismantle the door to the ATM, the affidavit says, by attaching the chains to the ATM and pulling the chain and hooks with the stolen Ford F-250. They stole $30,700 from the ATM and left the bank, abandoning the pickup truck a short distance away.

Investigators learned the pickup truck had been stolen from the parking lot of Tom’s Diesel in Nixa, Mo., at about 12:30 a.m. the same day. They reviewed surveillance videos from businesses in the area, which allegedly showed Luchin and others arriving at the area in two vehicles – a Chrysler Voyager minivan and a Toyota Highlander – and leave the area with the stolen pickup. Both the Voyager and the Highlander were identified on a license plate reader and traced to two car rental agencies in Houston. Later the same day, a license plate reader in Houston captured both of those vehicles traveling in the same direction.

Ozark police officers searched the stolen pickup truck and found Luchin’s Texas identification card on the driver’s seat.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the FBI and the Ozark, Mo., Police Department.