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Police Have Leads In Mahwah ATM Bag Theft, Say It Wasn't Inside Job

MAHWAH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Mahwah police say they have strong leads in trying to track down a man who swiped a bag containing about $150,000 accidentally left near a curb by an ATM worker.

Surveillance video shows a worker for ATMForUs.com leaving his office at 31 Industrial Ave. on his way to replenish ATMs on Monday. He set down a small, unmarked bag, walked around to the back of the car and then got in and took off without the satchel.

The passenger of a white GMC Savana work van then picked up the bag full of money up and rode away, the video shows. The van was picking up discarded tires from another nearby business just minutes before, police said.

Police Have Leads In Mahwah ATM Bag Theft, Say It Wasn't Inside Job

Mahwah police Chief James Batelli said if he didn't know the facts of the case, he would think it was an inside job.

"But we know for a fact that the workers were not involved," he told reporters, including WCBS 880's Levon Putney, on Wednesday.

The ATM worker was distraught and began to hyperventilate after he realized his mistake, the police chief said. Batelli said the ATM worker pulled the bag out of the car because he was rearranging items in the trunk and forgot it.

The police chief described it as a crime of opportunity for those who picked up the bag.

"It's really a societal issue of doing the right thing, turning the money in as they should have done," he said.

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