Thieves Fail to Lasso ATM

Pleasanton police are seeking two suspects who backed a stolen van into a store Saturday morning and tried to remove an ATM machine from inside,  then eluded police who followed the van as it fled the area.
     
Shortly before 6 a.m., a resident heard a loud crash and saw a white Ford van had backed into the glass front doors of the store located at  5696 Stoneridge Drive, police said.

Officers responded and saw the van leaving the area. A pursuit ensued, and the van eventually went onto westbound Interstate Highway 580.  The van exited the highway at Eden Canyon Road in unincorporated Castro  Valley and then drove the wrong way up the eastbound off-ramp, according to  police.

The officers did not follow the van up the off-ramp, and minutes later California Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff's  deputies found the van empty on the side of the highway.

Authorities searched the area but did not find the suspects.

Investigators later determined the van was stolen from a nearby child care facility and was backed through the glass doors of the store to  gain access to the business, police said.

The suspects tied a rope around the ATM machine inside the store and tried to remove it by pulling the rope with the van. The machine was  damaged but the suspects were unable to take money from it. Nothing else was taken from the store, according to police.

Suspect descriptions were obtained from the store's surveillance  video. One of the suspects is described as a white man who is between 35 and  40 years old, is heavy set with a mustache, and was wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket, and black and white shoes, police said.

The second suspect was a man, possibly of Asian descent, who was wearing blue jeans, a gray shirt, brown jacket, and a camouflage cap.