Crime & Safety

ATM Lifted from San Rafael Market; Novato Man Among 2 Arrested

Stephen Hart, 19, found in possession of ATM at Terra Linda residence after early-morning break-in.

A 19-year-old Novato man was arrested Tuesday morning in San Rafael after a newspaper distributor found a broken front door at small market and an automated teller machine was found to be missing, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Department.

The commercial burglary was reported at 12:43 a.m. at the Santa Venetia Market, where sheriff’s deputies found that the ATM had been removed after suspects broke the glass front door.

Shortly after 3 a.m. San Rafael Police got a tip that the ATM had been taken to a house in the 800 block of Patricia Way in Terra Linda. Officers and deputies went to the home, found the ATM and arrested Stephen Hart, 19, of Novato.

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A second suspect, identified as Benjamin Otanez, 20, of San Rafael, escaped out of a window at the back of the house and was captured at gunpoint at 9:30 a.m. wearing only shorts and socks, walking on a hillside near Lucas Valley Road and Mount Shasta Drive. His arrest location was over the Sleepy Hollow Open Space Preserve from the Patricia Way house.

The suspects had not yet opened the ATM and the amount of cash contained inside has not been determined.

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Hart was booked into the Marin County Jail and faces a felony charge of receiving known stolen property and misdemeanor counts of vandalism and violating probation. Otanez was booked on suspicion of possessing of stolen property and resisting/obstructing officers.

Anyone with information in this matter is encouraged to call the sheriff’s detectives at 415-499-7265 or remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a cash reward by calling Bay Area Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.


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