Monday, October 19, 2009 11:35 am

SMITHVILLE — A Woodbury man has been charged by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department with stealing an ATM machine from a business in Liberty.

Alton David Estes, 42, of Parchcorn Road, Woodbury was arrested on Tuesday, October 13 and charged with vandalism, burglary, and theft of property over $1,000.

During an investigation, detectives learned that Estes went to the Stop and Buy Citgo in Liberty and broke the glass out of the front door.

Estes hooked some kind of apparatus to the ATM machine which was located in the front of the store shopping area and then hooked the other end of the apparatus to his vehicle and pulled the top half of the ATM machine loose from lower half.

The top half of the ATM machine was found in a nearby creek later that day. Estes was unable to obtain any money from the machine.

Estes was arrested at his home after detectives looked at video of the vehicle and checked out a citizen's tip of who owned an automobile like the one on the video. There was evidence that the ATM machine had been loaded into the back of Estes' vehicle.