Tempe ATM burglary: Police believe suspect is tied to South American theft group

Tempe ATM burglary suspect arrested

Tempe Police have arrested a 36-year-old man in California in connection with an ATM burglary. The arrest followed more than a year of investigations, and police have new details on the suspect. FOX 10's Megan Spector reports.

TEMPE, Ariz. - A suspected member of a South American theft ring is in custody after a high-stakes ATM heist in Tempe.

"I like to think of the movie 'Ocean’s 8' or 'Mission: Impossible,'" said Tempe Police Officer Kayla Gneck.

What we know:

Police say 36-year-old Diego Arriagada Cornejo was arrested in California, following a more than year-long burglary investigation. He’s accused of using a cutting torch to access a Tempe ATM, walking away with more than $155,000 and causing $61,000 in damages.

"There were items that were left behind and that’s how DNA evidence was collected, which ultimately led to the identification of a suspect," Gneck said.

The backstory:

Investigators said in October 2024, the suspect cut a hole through the roof of a nail salon. Once inside, the suspect cut another hole through another wall in order to access a Wells Fargo ATM that was located in a small room.

"Two big holes in the wall, a hole in the roof, just dust everywhere," said one of the nail techs at the salon, who didn’t want to show her face on camera but talked to us about the day the burglary happened.

"It literally looked like a movie. Everything was planned perfectly," the nail tech said. "We thought, and so did the cops and detectives, we thought that they might have been here before to scope out. Because they had to cut the security, they had to know everything."

Dig deeper:

Investigators believe Cornejo may be connected to similar burglaries throughout California and Washington, as well as a separate burglary in Paradise Valley.

"I can’t go into details on those because those are active investigations, but they were very similar as far as the same M.O.," Gneck said.

Police also believe Cornejo is affiliated with a South American theft group, which is an organized criminal enterprise known for sophisticated commercial burglaries.