Man Videotaped PINs Input by Customers at St. Charles Bank's ATM, Police Say

A man was charged with setting up a video camera at an ATM to record people as they punched in their PINs outside a St. Charles bank.

The video camera was found Sept. 19 on an ATM at Enterprise Bank and Trust, 1001 First Capitol Avenue in St. Charles.

One man, Svetoslav T. Tanev, 27, of Arlington Heights, IL, was charged Sept. 19 with forgery in St. Charles County Circuit Court.

Officer Erik Lawrenz said St. Charles police saw video surveillance footage of the car used by the men who set up the camera. Officers soon located the car in the 1300 block of Bass Pro Drive near Bank of America. Lawrenz said officers do not know if they planned an operation at First Bank of America. The men were staying at a hotel in the same area, Lawrenz said.

Police found more than 100 credit cards, an encoding machine and $12,000 in cash in a St. Charles hotel room occupied by Tanev and a second man.

Tanev also was charged with trafficking in stolen identities in St. Louis County.

Creve Coeur Police said an armored truck driver was refilling an ATM at the US Bank branch at 126880 Olive Blvd. in Creve Coeur when he saw a device attached to the top of the machine. Police found a small video camera trained on the ATM’s keypad to allow PINs to be recorded as entered by customers.

The bank’s security cameras revealed the camera had been removed and replaced three times between Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. The cameras showed two men removed and replaced the camera and made entries into the ATM.

St. Charles police also found clothing in the hotel room that matches clothes worn by men in the US Bank video in Creve Coeur.

Tanev is being held in lieu of a $100,000 cash bond on the St. Louis County charge. Bond for the St. Charles County charge was set at $50,000, cash only.