Two Texas men who were allegedly involved in assaulting an ATM attendant in Renton after purposely damaging the ATM so they could steal money during repairs have been federally charged.
On July 17, the two men — Ahmon Hogg, 22, and Seth Coles-Body, 23 — were charged in the Western District of Washington federal court with conspiracy to commit robbery. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the men were charged for their scheme to steal from banks by assaulting and threatening ATM technicians.
According to the DOJ, the men were part of a robbery ring operating across the U.S., where the men would allegedly disable ATM machines with a glue-like substance. After disabling the machines, the men would wait for the technician to arrive and subsequently threaten the technician to give them the ATM’s cash containers, called cassettes.
According to the DOJ, the pair allegedly disabled ATMs on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, 2024. This was when the ATMs would be loaded with cash for the Christmas holiday.
“The co-conspirators disabled a Bank of America ATM in Renton with a glue-like substance that caused the card reader to stop functioning,” the DOJ said. “After the technician arrived and began repairing the machine, he was forcibly confronted by two men who brandished a screwdriver and demanded he open the machine and provide them with the cash cassettes.”
The technician did not open the ATM, and after a scuffle, the technician escaped the pair. The DOJ stated that bank surveillance captured images of the robbers’ vehicle and clothing.
The next day in Vancouver, Washington, technicians were sent to repair a Bank of America ATM, and again, a glue-like substance had been used. According to the DOJ, the glue-like substance was used to disable the ATM’s card reader.
The DOJ stated that after beginning repairs on the machine, two men ran up, shoved a technician out of the way and grabbed five cash cassettes filled with currency. The men fled in a car that matched the one seen the previous day in the Renton attempted robbery. Their clothes also matched the suspects in the Renton case.
While the Washington investigations were ongoing, Hogg and Coles-Body were identified in connection with ATM tampering cases on Jan. 3, 2025, in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. ATMs for Bank of America and Wells Fargo had been tampered with when a card covered in glue was inserted into the machines, the DOJ stated.
According to the DOJ, the FBI then set up surveillance on the ATMs and spotted a car that bank images connected to the tampering. Law enforcement stopped the car and identified Hogg and Coles-Body, and they were then released from custody.
On March 7, a technician at a Bank of America in Redmond, Washington, reported he had been robbed when he was working on a machine where the card reader was disabled by a glue-like substance. Once the machine was open, two robbers ran up and stole cash canisters filled with money from the machine, the DOJ stated. Five of the canisters were later recovered, damaged, on the shoulder of Highway 520, the DOJ stated.
According to the DOJ, a few days later, Coles-Body was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol attempting to travel into Mexico by Greyhound bus with approximately $209,000 in cash. The cash was seized, and Coles-Body was released.
On July 2, 2025, Coles-Body and Hogg were arrested in a traffic stop in Mississippi, with stolen firearms found in their car. They made an initial appearance in Jackson, Mississippi, federal court on July 3, and the Magistrate Judge ordered the Marshal Service to transport them to Seattle, the DOJ stated.
According to the DOJ, conspiracy to commit robbery is punishable by up to five years in prison.
