Randall Taufete’e, left, is seen using an oxyacetylene torch to break into a Washington state credit union and steal an ATM, right, in October 2022 (images via DOJ court filings).
A trained welder from Washington state who tried to burn his way to newfound riches by using an oxyacetylene torch to break into a credit union and steal an ATM in October 2022 has finally been sentenced.
Randall Taufete’e, 34, was sentenced to 66 months, or a little over 5 years in prison, federal prosecutors announced on Monday. He pleaded guilty in March to arson and burglary.
During his sentencing hearing, a federal judge told Taufete’e he was “fortunate” he didn’t set the entire O Bee Credit Union in Tumwater aflame during the attempted heist that did $198,018 in damages.
Firefighters responded to a call about a blaze at the credit union on Oct. 24, 2022. Flames roughly one to two feet high were spewing from an ATM machine embedded into a wall of the building. Once the fire was quelled, prosecutors said investigators quickly found “flame-based cuts” and “char and pry marks” on the ATM machine as well as a night deposit box, a drive-thru teller window and an exterior door.
Surveillance footage from the state credit union obtained by police later showed Taufete’e and Brandon Ronald Collado using a pry bar, electric saw and an oxyacetylene welder’s torch to open the ATM and attempt to gain access to the building. In a sentencing memorandum filed in June, U.S. attorneys noted that video footage showed the men arriving in a Subaru station wagon, parking it “well away” from the building and then setting about their illicit business. Prosecutors remarked that the men went back and forth to the car several times to retrieve tools as they tried to break into the credit union.
Heavy smoke started to billow from the ATM around 5 a.m. and that’s when prosecutors say Taufete’e and Collado took off running toward their car. Other surveillance footage showed an apparent customer approaching at this time. The customer called 911.
It was only three days later that Taufete’e was arrested on charges of being felon in possession of a firearm when police responded to a call from an area apartment building for reports of a gunshot or explosion. Court records allege that police interviewed Taufete’e who was in his car when they arrived at the scene. He told officers he hadn’t heard anything and started to drive away but police followed him.
According to court records:
Taufete’e then got out of the car and told officers not to go behind the building because his dog was there. Officers ignored Taufete’e and went to the back of the building — there was no dog but there was a large mesh-sided camping tent containing a large safe. Officers could see the safe door appeared to have been cut with a torch and either pried or blown open. Welding tools and torches were strewn about.
Police said when they went to look for Taufete’e after this, they found his station wagon unoccupied save for a pistol on the passenger floorboard. It had five rounds with one in the chamber.
He was promptly booked on the felon firearm possession charge, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 27 months.
Taufete’e’s Subaru was impounded and during a later search, investigators said they found “numerous hand tools, gas tanks for the oxyacetylene torch system, clothing that had been worn during the burglary and Collado’s Social Security card.”
While imprisoned on the gun charge, he shown the surveillance footage of the fire at the credit union but Taufete’e denied any involvement. He told police it made “no sense,” according to prosecutors, but he did acknowledge knowing Collado.
Prosecutors did not indict him for the burglary and arson charges until January 2023. He was indicted alongside co-defendant Collado. Collado pleaded guilty in June 2023 to attempted burglary of a credit union. He was sentenced to 30 months. Prosecutors said Collado also carried a scanner during the robbery so he could listen to local police dispatches and did not use the torch, though Taufete’e did.
In a sentencing memorandum prosecutors asked a judge to incarcerate Taufete’e for 92 months plus three years of supervised release and order that he make full restitution for the nearly $200,000 in damages. Taufete’e asked for 60 months. He argued for leniency on the grounds that the torch was ultimately no more effective than the other tools used in the heist attempt and that he did not hurt any person though they did damage with the fire.
His defense attorneys claimed he suffered from addiction to methamphetamine and fentanyl and had he not been, he likely would not have attempted the break-in.
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