Man indicted in ATM theft

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 | 10:02 a.m.

A Las Vegas man was indicted on charges that he used a backhoe to knock down an automated teller machine and steal thousands of dollars, before leading police on a high-speed chase.

The indictment, unsealed Friday before District Judge David Wall, charges John Vito Ventura with six felony counts stemming from the April 23 incident, in which $6,000 was stolen from a Bank of the West ATM on West Sahara Avenue.

"The ATM machine was completely destroyed," Deputy District Attorney Brian Rutledge said.

Ventura is charged with grand larceny, malicious destruction of private property and possession of burglary tools in the case.

He also faces a single charge of failing to stop for a police officer when police apprehended him in a residential neighborhood near Mariner Cove Drive and Coral Bay Way.

When police searched the pickup truck Ventura was driving, they found a backhoe was attached to the vehicle, and a pair of binoculars and a police scanner were inside, Rutledge said.

Also in the truck was the missing cash, which was still in the plastic cartridges that held the money inside the machine, he said.

"There is substantial evidence of (Ventura's) guilt," Rutledge said.

Ventura will be assigned an attorney when he is arraigned on May 28 before District Judge Kathy Hardcastle.

He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center with bail set at $350,000.

According to the indictment, the truck and the backhoe used in the theft had been stolen from McKinlay Excavating Inc. on North Dapple Gray Road weeks prior.

Ventura has four prior felony convictions, which include theft and escape, Rutledge said.

The prosecutor said he plans to ask Hardcastle to declare Ventura a habitual criminal, which would guarantee a life sentence if he is convicted.