MOUNT PLEASANT — A local man has been charged for allegedly spying on ATM users with binoculars, then using their personal identification numbers to pull money from their accounts.
Thomas Michael Kasprovich, 33, 1154 Prairie Drive No. 245, is charged with 27 counts of felony personal identity theft for allegedly trying to take money out of six bank accounts. He was unsuccessful much of the time but did reportedly manage to take $1,800 out of three of the accounts.
Police went to Johnson Bank on Sept. 1 after employees called saying a man had been parked in a lot near the ATM and was using binoculars or a scope to watch customers as they used the ATM. Employees said Kasprovich had been there for days, and they were concerned about his “unusual behavior.” When officers confronted Kasprovich on Sept. 1 they found a high-powered binocular-type scope inside his van.
Employees said he would watch as people completed their transactions, then immediately drive up behind them and attempt his own transaction. The people police spoke to said they did not completely close out their session at the ATM before Kasprovich made his alleged attempts to get money from their accounts.
All the thefts and attempted thefts took place in the last 10 days of August, at either Quik Trip, 943 S. East Frontage Road, or Johnson Bank, 6700 Washington Ave.
On Aug. 21, Kasprovich allegedly took $800 from a woman’s account after she took $100 out of her account at Quik Trip. That day he also allegedly tried five times to withdraw $500 from a man’s account at Johnson Bank. The next day Kasprovich allegedly tried six times to get $300 out of another Johnson Bank customer’s account.
On Aug. 27, Kasprovich allegedly took $400 from a man’s account after he used the Johnson Bank ATM. The next day he allegedly tried six times to get money from another bank customer’s account.
Kasprovich allegedly returned to Quik Trip on Aug. 31 and took $400 from the account of a woman whose boyfriend used her ATM card. The two $200 transactions came minutes after the woman’s boyfriend left the machine. Store video showed Kasprovich walking up to the ATM after the man was finished, and then leaving in a green conversion van.