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Three suspects who were arrested last week in connection to “hundreds” of car and ATM burglaries around the DFW metroplex are connected to a viral Christmas Eve ATM theft, White Settlement police said.
Aaron Alex, 26, of Dallas; Bronya Freeman, 24, of Dallas; and Jay Jones, 28, of Lancaster, were arrested March 22 after a five-month investigation, police said.
The three are accused of using a stolen GMC Yukon to attempt to pull an ATM loose from inside a gas station at 3:44 a.m. Dec. 24, according to an earlier police statement.
Officers who responded to the gas station noted extensive damage to the front door and windows, as well as merchandise and debris scattered through the store and parking lot, police said. Investigators found that two men had driven to the store in the stolen SUV and got out of the vehicle wearing dark clothes, face coverings and gloves.
One of the men is seen on surveillance video smashing the front door with a metal object and connecting the ATM to the vehicle using a metal cable. The man then signalled the driver to pull the ATM out of the store.
The suspects then drove away with the ATM attached to the vehicle, according to the statement.
At some point as the suspects fled westbound on the Interstate 30 service road, the ATM dislodged from the vehicle and came to rest in a culvert near an auto dealership, police said. The machine was later recovered with the safe intact.
White Settlement detectives collaborated with agencies across North Texas to determine whether the three suspects were connected to similar incidents in the Metroplex, according to the statement.
All three suspects are being held in the Tarrant County Jail.
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Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.