Nearly a year after a brazen $200,000 ATM theft, police are still searching for answers—and cash—that may be buried somewhere in the Coromandel.
Jessie-Lee Daniela-Ranford, 26, and her father, 60-year-old James Lindsay Ranford, pleaded guilty to charges relating to the theft of five cash canisters from an ATM in Hamilton in May last year. Daniela-Ranford, a former Armourguard employee, used insider knowledge to access the ATM at Yukedas Party and Gift Store in Hillcrest. Her father, now terminally ill with bladder cancer, acted as the getaway driver.
The pair fled in a modified Nissan Tiida, later found torched on the outskirts of Hamilton. Despite police efforts, only $34,000 of the nearly $200,000 stolen has been recovered.
At a previous sentencing hearing, a police prosecutor suggested the money may have been buried somewhere on the Coromandel Peninsula—a theory that still lingers due to the large amount unaccounted for. Judge Glen Marshall even delayed sentencing in the hope the pair might reveal its location.
However, this week in Hamilton District Court, both defendants swore affidavits claiming the bulk of the cash—around $159,000—had been spent. They said the money went towards drug debts, rent, vehicles, and tangihanga (funeral costs). Police remain unconvinced, stating it’s difficult to believe such a large sum has simply “evaporated.”
Ranford brought $1500 to court, earmarked for his own funeral, and asked to keep it. Defence lawyers argued for home detention, citing his terminal illness and Daniela-Ranford’s role as sole caregiver to her two children.
Both were sentanced to 10 months’ home detention and reparation of $20,000 each was ordered by Judge Glen Marshall to be paid in instalments.
