To elaborate, two thieves decided to rip an ATM from its concrete foundation in downtown Phenix City Alabama using a backhoe (also stolen). The plan was to place the pilfered ATM on a flatbed trailer and haul it away. So far, so good. The only problem is that the machine tumbled off the truck sometime later. Way to heavy to pick up manually, the thieves were forced to leave the ATM on the side of the road.

Both the backhoe and the ATM were recovered, although the thieves remain at large. Needless to say, if you happen to live near Phenix city and you see a backhoe driving down the road with an ATM in the digging bucket, chances are it's these guys trying to redeem themselves. Probably not a good idea to risk it though—we have already seen what can happen for just taking a picture of an ATM. [ledger-enquirer via Twitter]

Except for the getting caught part, Lute had one hell of a plan. First, break into an office (in this case, the offices of Action Realty). Second, steal stuff related to your business (in this case, a hard drive). Third, get called to repair the computer and tell the owner that you can not only fix it, but you can retrieve all of the data as well (why, this guy is a miracle worker!). Then, bring back the drive, fix the computer and charge $50 an hour for 40 hours of work.

Unfortunately, the owner also made a call to the manufacturer of the computer, who advised him that you cannot retrieve the data without a hard drive. Police discovered Lutes' car and matched it to a car parked in Action Realty's parking lot on the night of the break in. Needless to say, Lutes' won't have to worry about making ends meet since his living expenses will most likely be picked up by the Pennsylvania penal system for some time to come. [The Morning Call via Geekologie]

Naturally, no details have been released on the phones, but Sony considers them "highly valuable to competitors." Based on that, I can only assume that the employee planned to sell them to the enemy like some sort of cold war cellphone spy. Either that, or he is just a really early adopter. [IDG via USEB]

Prison officials believe that the cargo in question was most likely drugs or a cellphone, but a thorough search of the premises came up empty. Apparently, this "ghost chopper" and its payload disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived.

I'll admit, that's pretty ingenious—but it shouldn't have worked. The chopper was picked up on CCTV cameras the night before, so they should have been looking for it. For their sake, I can only hope that the cargo was drugs or a cellphone and not some sort of weapon. [Daily Mail]