An Auburn man is accused of being the leader of a group that reportedly stole nearly a million dollars in cash from ATMs with a stolen Jaws of Life. He’s also accused of a grisly sexual assault in a separate case.
Scott Marcus Rhodes, 30, was arrested Feb. 20 and then charged by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on Feb. 24, with three counts of first-degree theft, three counts of first-degree malicious mischief, two counts of second-degree burglary and two counts of possession of burglary tools. Rhodes was also charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault in a separate case.
According to charging documents, the first set of charges are from Rhodes’ alleged role as the leader of an ATM theft ring in which he used Jaws of Life, which he claimed he stole off a fire truck, to break open various ATMs in Seattle. Rhodes and others also reportedly used a stolen excavator to rip the ATMs out of their foundation in one incident, subsequently breaking them open with the jaws of life, resulting in a total of $895,738 in cash stolen throughout the whole operation.
Rhodes’ operation resulted in $1.02 million of theft, mostly cash, and $506,709 in property damage, according to court documents. Rhodes is currently at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, held on $250,000 bail for the theft charges and $2 million bail for the kidnapping charge.
Separate charging documents state that Rhodes’ second set of charges stem from an alleged Dec. 12, 2024, incident where a former coworker crossed paths with him at a friend’s house, prompting Rhodes to accuse him of stealing from him. At gunpoint, Rhodes then made the man shave his own head and perform sexual acts on himself, causing him to bleed in front of a group of people while Rhodes recorded him, and kneed him in the face, according to charging papers.
Rhodes then allegedly made the man carry firewood into the house naked and clean the house before he ended the assault by making the man smoke a drug to pass out. Rhodes subsequently stole the victim’s car, according to court documents. Rhodes was reportedly seen on Dec. 14, 2024, evading police in a vehicle believed to be the victim’s before it was found burned near the Green River.
The man, allegedly assaulted by Rhodes, was evaluated at the hospital, revealing that he suffered a closed fracture of the nasal bone, closed head injury, chest wall contusion and assault by manual strangulation, according to court documents. The man told police he knew about Rhodes’ involvement in stealing ATMs but declined to comment further.
Details of the ATM thefts
According to the master case investigation report from the Seattle Police Department, the involved suspects seemed to follow a very similar pattern, and the ATM thefts appeared to involve the same suspects. According to documents, more details came out when officers in Everett arrested a woman who had a Jaws of Life in her vehicle.
Officers learned how the operation was carried out after the woman was found not to be involved, but she could positively identify each suspect in the ATM theft videos. The woman said she knew the people in the videos, and the leader was ultimately believed to be Rhodes.
The woman said Rhodes reportedly uses a lot of crack cocaine, and she knows he has had at least two handguns. When asked how Rhodes obtained Jaws of Life, she said she wasn’t sure, but that he had been bragging about how he had stolen them off a fire truck alongside a firefighter’s radio.
The first alleged theft occurred at about 7:18 a.m., Oct. 7, 2024, at 4431 MLK Jr. Way S., in Seattle. This theft resulted in $278,000 of cash stolen from the ATM and $60,000 in damages.
According to documents, it was reported that two subjects were seen in surveillance footage smashing the window at the business next door to a BECU ATM. Surveillance footage showed a second man, not believed to be Rhodes, entering a room that had access to the backside of the ATM and attempting to use a Jaws of Life to open the ATM before a woman came with another Jaws of Life. The ATM was then pried open, and the suspects fled in an SUV parked on the curb waiting.
The second alleged theft occurred at about 3:55 a.m., Oct. 9, 2024, at 3310 W. McGraw St., in Seattle. This theft resulted in $322,068 of cash stolen from the ATM, the $76,524 ATM being stolen, and $6,709.28 in damages.
According to documents, several people called 911 to report an ATM being dragged down the street with a chain. A witness took a cellphone video showing three suspects loading the detached ATM into their van several blocks from the bank after dragging it down the street using a chain and a stolen van.
Officers state that in pictures taken from surveillance video at the ATM’s location, they saw who they believe to be Rhodes holding the Jaws of Life, the other man from the previous theft and another woman.
The third alleged theft occurred at about 5:55 a.m., Dec. 26, 2024, at 8551 Greenwood Ave. N., in Seattle. This theft resulted in $194,670 of cash stolen from the ATM and an unknown amount of damage, but the report notes it is easily $10,000 plus.
According to documents, the suspects, the other man involved, who they believe to be Rhodes, parked a white van on the sidewalk next to the ATM and broke into the room that accesses the backside of the ATM using a Jaws of Life. The pair went back and forth from the ATM to the van, even leaving at one point to possibly retrieve more tools before returning. Documents state they left for good about 50 minutes after arriving with all the cash in the ATM.
The fourth alleged theft occurred at about 3:02 a.m. on Jan. 27 at 4319 Stone Way N., Seattle. The theft resulted in $101,000 of cash stolen, a $55,000 ATM being stolen, and $375,000 in structural damage.
According to the report, officers determined that Rhodes and others had stolen an excavator from a nearby construction site. According to documents, they crashed the excavator into the BECU bank and stole an ATM, but when police arrived, they left an ATM when fleeing.
Documents state that on Feb. 19, officers, including an FBI agent, positively identified Rhodes in a vehicle parked at a home in Edgewood. When Rhodes realized what was happening, he crawled out of the vehicle’s sunroof, dropped a large bag of suspected cocaine on the ground and started to flee on foot. A King County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit dog caught up to Rhodes, bit him and he was subsequently arrested, according to documents.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
The backside of a destoyed ATM in one of the thefts and allegedly Scott Rhodes with a Jaws of Life. Courtesy photos
Allegedly, Scott Rhodes and the BECU that the excavator destroyed. Courtesy photos.
