Members of group that tore 50 ATMs from regional stores arrested in Denton, police say

Eight people who conspired about 50 times to use a chain attached to a pickup truck to tear ATMs holding cash from convenience stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area were arrested on Thursday, police said.

Officers arrested seven men and one woman actively burglarizing about 6 a.m. an ATM at a 7-Eleven store in the 900 block of Fort Worth Drive in Denton, Plano police said.

Detectives developed leads as they investigated an ATM burglary at a 7-Eleven store on May 25 in the 3600 block of 14th Street in Plano. During the burglary, five people backed a pickup truck to the front of the store and smashed a window.

As a clerk stood behind a counter, the suspects wrapped a chain around the machine and tore it from the store using the pickup, police said. The pickup was stolen in Garland and after the burglary found abandoned at an apartment complex.

The suspects were each arrested on suspicion of theft of an automated teller machine less than $300,000. They were held on Friday at the Denton County Jail.