North Carolina man gets prison term in multistate ATM theft case

A Raleigh, North Carolina, man who helped drain nearly $100,000 from ATMs across central Pennsylvania was sentenced in Union County to nine to 72 months in state prison, closing a case that reached banks and cash machines in multiple counties. Union County Judge Michael Piecuch imposed the term on June 11 after Antoni Jesus Garcia-Cordoba, 42, entered a no-contest plea in April.

The case centered on ATM thefts in Snyder, Union and Crawford counties and later widened into a broader jackpotting investigation. Police tied the local thefts to incidents between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5, 2025, and linked the pattern to an Oct. 5 theft at Community Connect Federal Credit Union in Titusville, where between about $59,500 and $60,500 was missing from the machine.

The thefts cost about $43,000 from three ATMs in Snyder and Union counties over a five-hour span, and thieves stole about $58,000 from an ATM in Titusville the next day. Titusville police worked with Pennsylvania State Police and other agencies to consolidate the cases in Union County, where Garcia-Cordoba was extradited on Dec. 14, 2025. The sentence was structured as three consecutive 3-to-24-month terms, adding up to the nine to 72 months he will serve.

In a February 2026 alert, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded 1,900 ATM jackpotting incidents since 2020, with more than 700 incidents and more than $20 million in losses in 2025 alone. The FDIC Office of Inspector General defines jackpotting as a scheme in which criminals access ATMs and install malware so the machine dispenses cash.