Two men arrested in connection with skimming devices found at Grover Beach ATM Wednesday

GROVER BEACH, Calif. – On Wednesday, two Romanian nationals were arrested in connection with multiple ATM skimming devices discovered during the week in Grover Beach.

Skimming devices are used to capture the personal information of cardholders for thieves to use later for fraud, identity theft, or other crimes.

Grover Beach isn't alone in finding skimming devices. Earlier this year, skimming devices were discovered at a Santa Barbara County gas station, a Santa Maria bank ATM, and multiple bank ATMs in Paso Robles.

In this case, the first skimming device was discovered and removed by Grover Beach Police officers at a Bank of America ATM at 1564 W. Grand Avenue on Tuesday detail Grover Beach Police Department.

According to Grover Beach Police Department (GBPD), an officer on proactive patrol found another skimming device in the same ATM from Tuesday and officers determined the device had to have been installed early in the morning.

Later Wednesday afternoon, the same GBPD officer was patrolling the parking lot near the ATM and spotted the suspects approaching the machine explain GBPD.

One of the two men was detained at the scene and the other fled in a vehicle, but was involved in a traffic stop a short time later in Arroyo Grande where evidence was discovered connecting them to the crime share GBPD.

Both men, a 43-year-old and a 56-year-old, were arrested for multiple felony identity theft charges and transported to San Luis Obispo County Jail where their bond has been set at $200,000 each.

This is an ongoing investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact the GBPD Detective Bureau at 805-473-4570.