Third defendant in Marshfield ATM ‘jackpotting’ theft gets probation

By Karen Madden
Marshfield News-Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

WISCONSIN RAPIDS − The third and final defendant charged in a 2024 “jackpotting” scheme at a Marshfield credit union was sentenced July 20 to seven years of probation.

Jhoenderson D. Rojas Eganez, 28, whose address is listed as the Kewaunee County Jail, pleaded guilty to being a party to the crime of theft from a financial institution. As part of a plea agreement, additional charges of being a party to the crimes of interfering with an automated teller machine, possession of burglarious tools and accessing data for a computer crime were dismissed, but read into the record.

During the sentencing, Wood County Circuit Judge Nicholas Brazeau Jr. ordered Rojas Eganez to pay his share of $114,550, plus $518 court costs. Rojas Eganez also must undergo an assessment and any counseling and treatment his probation agent deems appropriate.

A jury found his codefendant, Worlly W. Garcia Albarracin guilty April 22 of being a party to the crimes of theft from a financial institution and interference with an automated teller machine. Wood County Circuit Judge Nicholas Brazeau Jr. sentenced Garcia Albarracin June 19 to three years in prison and gave Garcia Albarracin credit for 427 days already served. Brazeau ordered Garcia Albarracin to spend four years on extended supervision following his prison sentence and to pay his share of $114,550 restitution plus $3,932 in extradition fees and $518 in court costs.

A third defendant, Alejandro J. Sevilla Sanabria, 26, whose address is listed as the Brown County Jail, pleaded no contest to and was found guilty of theft from a financial institution on April 2. As part of a plea agreement, additional charges of being a party to the crimes of interfering with an automated teller machine, possession of burglarious tools and accessing data for a computer crime were dismissed but considered during sentencing. Wood County Circuit Judge Timothy Gebert sentenced Sevilla Sanabria to three years in prison followed by four years of extended supervision.

According to the criminal complaint, on Dec. 16, 2024, Marshfield Police Officer Blake Borchardt began investigating a reported theft from Simplicity Credit Union, 222 E. Upham St. in Marshfield, that occurred on Dec. 13, 2024. The branch manager said that at about 11:17 p.m. someone forced their way into the ATM and downloaded a malicious software into the hardware of the ATM, causing the machine to dispense money. The total amount of money taken was determined to be $114,550, according to the complaint.

A credit union employee who handles service on the ATM arrived to service the machine shortly before law enforcement was called and noticed screws were missing from the interior of the ATM and the display screen had been altered. A piece from the fingertip of a latex glove also was found inside the machine, according to the complaint.

A video showed a suspect wearing a dark gray or black zip-up sweatshirt with a thin line of reflective material using a Bluetooth computer keyboard and black and yellow flathead screwdriver to access the ATM panel, according to the complaint. The employee said he was familiar with this method of ATM theft, known as “jackpotting,” and that similar thefts had happened in central Wisconsin and across the state, according to the complaint.

Marshfield Police Detective Al Neinast made contact with Kewaunee County and spoke with Investigator William Raduenz about a similar incident there. Raduenz informed Neinast that on Dec. 16, 2024, a subject accessed the ATM machine at the Bank of Luxemburg in Luxemburg, Wisconsin, using an ATM key and removed the hard drive. An off-duty police officer reported the incident, and two officers responded. After a chase, police arrested Rojas Eganez, according to the complaint.

Officers found two stacks of $5 bills, totally $2,095, a black and yellow flat-head screwdriver, a wireless Bluetooth keyboard, a gray zip-up sweatshirt with reflective material and other items. Neinast said that Kewaunee banks involved do not dispense $5 bills in the ATMs. The Marshfield credit union manager stated that $3,250 of the stolen money would have been $5 bills, according to the complaint.

Officers found another suspicious vehicle in the area of the Luxemburg bank during the incident. Officers made contact with this vehicle and identified the occupants as Sevilla Sanabria and an individual who is not charged in the Wood County case. Both stated they lived in Chicago and were in Kewaunee DoorDashing, according to the complaint.

Kewaunee deputies interviewed Rojas Eganez, who said he drove from Chicago to Wisconsin with the purpose of working for an organization that provided him with training, equipment, cellphones and money to conduct thefts from ATMs, according to the complaint. He claimed he did not know he was being followed by individuals in another vehicle, but said that the group he worked with monitors police radio traffic and they had alerted him that police were dispatched to the Bank of Luxemburg, according to the complaint.

Kewaunee deputies searched Rojas Eganez’s phone and found a WhatsApp message thread between Rojas Eganez and a phone number later identified as belonging to Garcia Albarracin that included several bank and credit union addresses, including Simplicity Credit Union in Marshfield, according to the complaint.

Deputies also searched a phone belonging to Sevilla Sanabria and located data for a trip on Dec. 13, 2024, from a Stevens Point hotel to a hotel in Marshfield. The search also found several images and videos from Marshfield on that date. Data from Google Maps also showed that at 11:25 p.m. on the day of the incident, Sevilla Sanabria was driving around the block where Simplicity Credit Union in Marshfield is located. He also logged into the wireless internet at the Marshfield hotel on Dec. 13, 2024, according to the complaint.

The owner of the Marshfield hotel told police that he had rented two rooms to Garcia Albarracin during the morning hours of Dec. 13, 2024. Police were able to identify Garcia Albarracin and Rojas Eganez with hotel lobby video, as well as vehicles registered to Garcia Albarracin and Sevilla Sanabria with further video surveillance from the hotel.