One year later: ATM vandal busted

The man who broke into a campus Higher One ATM last September pled guilty in Boise to a crime spree spanning several states.

Edward Clarence Lancaster, 57, a Las Vegas native, admitted to 21 different cases of ATM theft adding up to an approximate total of $124,000 in stolen U.S. currency, almost 89,000 in ATM damages and additional property damage of $3,612.

Lancaster, with the aid of his wife Zakiah Lancaster, 25, targeted primarily educational institutions in several western states before being apprehended in Arizona.

Lancaster was taken into custody in January for burglary after a professor at Eastern Arizona College witnessed him attempting to break into a campus ATM.

Zakiah Lancaster was arrested in the pair’s getaway vehicle.

The vehicle was reportedly filled with burglary tools, $2,000 in $20 bills and the couple’s two young daughters, who were immediately taken into protective custody.

During an FBI interrogation Lancaster confessed to a number of ATM thefts, including several that took place at Idaho universities across the state.

The FBI was later able to connect him to other thefts by geographically tracking his banking transactions and matching the dates and locations to different ATM theft reports.

As part of the plea agreement, Lancaster will pay restitution of almost 217,000 and forfeit the cash proceeds of his crimes. Victims may submit further impact statements for consideration at Lancaster’s sentencing hearing.

According to campus security, NIC incurred no loss of funds or property damage, and Department of Justice restitution forms have been supplied to Higher One to recoup the sustained losses.

The maximum penalty for bank larceny is 10 years in prison, a 250,000 fine and several years of supervised release. Lancaster is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge in Boise on January 28, 2012.