Tallahassee police arrested a man early Monday, Nov. 17, after he allegedly stole both a forklift and an ATM and tried to make a painfully slow getaway with both in the predawn darkness.
Joshua Hidalgo, 38, was arrested on a litany of charges, including grand theft burglary of a structure, criminal mischief, resisting an officer, trespassing on school grounds and possession of burglary tools. He is being held in the Leon County Detention Facility.
Hidalgo, who was arrested on West Tennessee Street, was spotted by witnesses a little after 5 a.m. driving the forklift with the ATM down a side street, at one point pushing the machine after it toppled over onto the pavement.
“He was operating the forklift and fled on foot when officers attempted to stop him,” said Alicia Hill, spokeswoman for the Tallahassee Police Department. “He was captured after a brief foot pursuit and taken into custody without incident.”
A front door camera captured video of a man driving down Birmingham Street in a forklift and carrying an ATM that police say were stolen a little after 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.
Miles Robertson and his wife Madi Robertson were in bed in their Birmingham Street home a little after 5 a.m. when they heard a commotion outside — he thought a bulk waste crew had gotten an early start — followed by a loud crashing sound.
They got out of bed and watched as a man wearing an orange hoodie appeared to struggle with something attached to a concrete slab that had fallen over onto the road.
“It was so bizarre,” he said, “because I couldn’t see what it was. I was going back and forth, wondering how nefarious it was, and how calm the guy was acting was really making me second-guess myself.”
It wasn’t until the man rammed the ATM with the forklift and began pushing it down the street that the Robertsons realized what was happening and called police. The forklift disappeared down the street, leaving behind a visible trail of gouged-out pavement running the length of roadway.
A man was arrested Nov. 17, 2025, after allegedly driving a stolen forklift that he used to try to get away with a stolen ATM that had been ripped from its concrete base. The ATM and concrete slab gouged a line into the pavement as the man drove down Birmingham Street.
The driver of the forklift continued until he hit Alabama Street, according to Robertson, and officers caught up with him in the 600 block of West Tennessee Street, Hill said. Investigators recovered the forklift and the ATM.
“Where both of those came from remains under investigation,” Hill said.
The Robertsons’ front door camera captured video of the forklift crawling down their street, recording the moment the ATM fell off the forklift with a loud crash. Someone else posted on social media a short video of the ATM and what they described as cash on the ground around it near Joe Louis and Arizona streets.
“I prefer this kind of crime over violent ones,” Robertson said in a text, “but I think the guy was lucky that OSHA wasn’t around to see his blatant disregard of workplace safety.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Police say Florida man used stolen forklift in ATM heist