One of four Texas men accused in the thefts of more than $14,000 from ATM machines in Central Arkansas has pleaded guilty to federal charges before U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller.
James Darron Miller Jr. of Dallas appeared Friday morning by video-conference from the West Tennessee Detention Center in Mason, Tenn., to plead guilty to two charges of transporting $5,000 or more in stolen money and conspiracy to transport $5,000 in stolen money, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Miller was arrested on Jan. 16 with three other Dallas residents after a federal grand jury indicted the four of them, alleging they drove to Oklahoma and Arkansas to break into automated teller machines in Walmart stores.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bart Dickinson said Miller, along with his three co-defendants, broke into a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Conway and using yellow pry bars, broke into an ATM and took $7,520 from it. A surveillance camera at a nearby school showed a dark, late model SUV parked nearby.
Ten days later, the four men broke into a Shell Superstop in Benton, removed the ATM from the store and broke into the store's safe as well, Dickson said.
"Video surveillance from various stores in the vicinity showed a dark, late model SUV around the store at the time of the burglary," Dickinson said, adding that the video showed four men exiting the vehicle before the burglary and being picked up again afterward.
Miller is being housed in the West Tennessee Detention Center until his case is resolved in federal court, as are his three co-defendants.
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Upon sentencing, Miller could receive a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine on each of the two stolen money transport charges. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum jail term of five years and up to a $250,000 fine.
