Truck smashes into Poplar Bluff store in attempt to steal ATM

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Would-be thieves stole a pickup Monday morning and then crashed it into the Green Forest Grocery on Township Line Road in an apparent attempt to steal the store's automated teller machine.

Just after 1 a.m. Monday, unknown person(s) stole a pickup, belonging to 1st Community Bank, from Darnell Auto Sales, located behind the store, explained owner Jeff Darnell.

"They stole it and they came over here [and] rammed the back of the truck through the front doors," Darnell said. "They jumped out [and] tried to load the ATM; it turned over ? and busted it all to pieces."

A neighbor, living across the road from the store, "defended our property here," Darnell said. "When they blasted back out, that's when they met that neighbor and he run them off.

"It's the kind of thing you see on TV, on the cops shows. I've seen it on TV. You don't never think it will happen."

When Darnell was notified by telephone, he said, he was told someone had backed into the building.

"When we got here, it was amazement that this would happen, especially in our small, little community."

The neighbor, according to Butler County Deputy Adam Mathias' report, was watching television when he heard a loud bang. "[He] looked outside and observed that the store was being burglarized.

"[His wife] then began dialing 911, while [he] ran to the gun cabinet and grabbed a shotgun."

Mathias said the neighbor ran outside, where he yelled at the would-be thieves and fired a shot into the air.

"He advised that the truck had backed into the store through the front door and that the truck was completely inside the store," Mathias said. "He then advised that the truck began squealing tires and he fired two more shots ? "

The truck, a Dodge Ram, sped off in a northward direction, Mathias said. Deputies subsequently conducted an area search and found the truck abandoned on Whispering Pines Road.

The truck, according to Darnell, "just knocked the doors plum out of it [and] caved in the

bricks and blocks. ? It spun the counters around [and] knocked merchandise everywhere."

Darnell attributes the neighbor's actions of scaring the suspect(s) off with saving "us from losing any [merchandise]. I don't know if they got anything. We couldn't tell if anything is missing at this time. We know they turned over the ATM ? "

After contacting his landlord, Darnell said, they began "making plans to put it back together."

Darnell said he contacted several individuals, including a contractor, window installer and block-layer, to begin making repairs before daylight. "They don't know how much we appreciated it," he said.

Darnell said he hopes to be "back up running by [Tuesday] morning. They're laying the blocks now."

The structure, he said, needs to be secure before the store reopens "Our concerns is we don't want anyone coming and going if there is any chance something might fall and hit somebody," he said.

Ironically, Darnell said, he had just completely remodeled the store, putting in new ceilings and counters.

Darnell said Saturday's customer appreciation day will go on as scheduled. "We'll get together, give prizes away and keep it going," he said.