County police officers interrupted an ATM theft at a White Oak convenience store on Tuesday and detectives have linked the three men arrested to two other similar thefts in the county, police announced Wednesday.
Deandre Jackson, 27, of Upper Marlboro, Omar Barnes, 28, of Washington, D.C., and Janarro Hewett, 27 of Hyattsville, were each charged with two counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery for the three incidents, police said at an afternoon news conference.
County police are working with authorities in Prince George’s County and Washington to see if any of the three men were involved in a recent rash of similar heists but have not established links, said Russell Hamill, Montgomery County’s interim police chief.
Hamill said the county thefts took planning and required skillful tactics.
“That was definitely not their first rodeo the other night,” Hamill said.
Officers converged on a 7-Eleven at 11303 Lockwood Drive around 3:50 a.m. Tuesday after seeing two people wearing masks leave a pickup truck, go in to the convenience store and confront employees, police said.
A third person backed a pickup truck over a curb near the front window of the store as if preparing to drive through it, similar to several incidents in the Washington region over the past few months, police said.
Barnes and Jackson fled when they noticed officers and were quickly apprehended, police said.
Hewett fled in the truck, making it to the Capital Beltway before colliding with another vehicle, according to charges. He tried to run but was quickly caught by police.
Detectives determined Jackson, Barnes and Hewett committed ATM robberies at 7-Eleven stores at 15539 New Hampshire Road in Cloverly on April 30 and 12257 Tech Road in Fairland May 2, Hamill said.
He added that police recovered a small amount of money but declined to elaborate on the amount or other evidence.
County police spokesman Rick Goodale said the department has a general idea of how much money was in the stolen ATMs but does not share that information.
According to widely available published news reports, some machines can contain up to $200,000.
During the investigation of the May 2 robbery, detectives found the men had parked a van in a nearby neighborhood before the robbery, where they transferred the ATM, police said. Officers noticed a van and pickup truck drive through the 7-Eleven parking lot then into a residential neighborhood before the May 7 incident.
Hamill said the men had to steal the vehicles and use them before they were reported stolen, stake out the stores, then quickly execute the smash-and-grab maneuver.
“We can’t guarantee all those ATM robberies are stopping but we know these three guys are stopping,” Hamill said.
Jackson, Barnes and Hewett are being held without bond. Online court records do not list attorneys as of Wednesday afternoon.
Charlie Wright can be reached at charlie.wright@moco360.media
