Michael Joseph Oleksik, 23, has a curious crime alleged in Florida. He reportedly became upset when an ATM machine gave him too much money so he proceeded to pummel the machine. It is not clear why he was enraged by being over-paid, but any concern for the bank’s assets did not extend to the machine itself.
What is curious about the case (other than the assault on an ATM angle) is that Oleksik did not illegally acquire the money and later called the Wells Fargo to say that he was sorry for damaging the machine. He said that he was “angry the ATM was giving him too much money and he did not know what to do.”
Law enforcement told Florida Today that surveillance footage shows the attack.
The Wells Fargo branch in Cocoa, Fla., filed a criminal complaint, Oleksik was booked into the Brevard County Jail.
Destruction of property. Small fine and restitution to fix the machine. Ban him from using ATMs. Make him apologize to the ATM.
It’s property damaged by the assailant-plain and simple. Maybe he was banging on it so it would reopen so the funds could be redeposited-just maybe
Sounds like Oleksik has a problem. Perhaps he was upset thinking the ATM would make him overdrawn by accidentally withdrawing too much money from his account. Maybe he had a bad day. But when you go off like that, you might be a hair away from doing that to a person on a bad day.
Hope he goes to a counselor or starts taking yoga stat.
Gotta love the part where he claimed to be in a hurry to get to work, which I assume is part of his reasoning for the meltdown. Isn’t anyone curious as to the type of place employing this guy? $5,000 worth of damage? That’s a whole lotta banging on the ATM. A nutjob, with a short fuse. Felony property destruction. Make him pay restitution, put him on probation, along with court ordered anger management classes and lots and lots of community service, if, in fact, he wants to a chance to avoid the conviction on his record.
Holy cow! $5,000?! That’s crazy. Sounds like he went all Silverback.
lol the fact you believe the media to the extent you do makes you the nut case. None of this is true. NONE. It’s a shame people are so quick to jump to conclusion and judge me, like you, but I’m glad to see there’s still intelligent people that can see my side of it, regardless of the media. You sir, are not amongst them
Nutcases beat up on ATMs when they blow a gasket. Nutcases go berserk when an ATM spits out more cash than it is supposed to dispense. Nutcases cause $5,000 worth of damage to an inanimate object because they can’t control their impulses in a civil society when something, quite minor, goes wrong. Tell your, I’M INNOCENT, to the judge, doofus. Make sure to plead it when the prosecutor runs the tape of you having a f’ing meltdown. Get help. You need it.
Mike,
Please share your side of the story, in its entirety, so that we can hear both sides.
The following is from the linked article, which at this time is all we have to go on. Please describe what you feel they got wrong, and your account of what happened.
“Authorities said Oleksik can be seen on surveillance video standing at the ATM, pummeling the electronic teller’s touch screen on Nov. 29.
A short time later, an apologetic Oleksik called the bank and told a manager that he punched the ATM because he was ‘angry the ATM was giving him too much money and he did not know what to do,’ records show. Oleksik also said that he was in a hurry for work and apologized for the damage to the bank’s ATM.
Wells Fargo contacted the Cocoa Police Department and asked to press charges. Oleksik was arrested Friday and booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex in Sharpes.”
Mike doesn’t owe us an explanation. If charges are pending, he should let the DA, grand jury, and trial court sort it out. As someone who deals with the media on a more or less regular basis, I can tell you that a lot of reporters are more interested in a good yarn than in the facts.
lol the fact you believe the media to the extent you do makes you the nut case. None of this is true. It’s a shame people are so quick to jump to conclusion and judge me, like you, but I’m glad to see there’s still intelligent people that can see my side of it, regardless of the media. You sir, are not amongst them
The incident took place on Nov. 29th and he was arrested “nearly a month” later. Perhaps there’s more to the story.
Florida Today: “Cocoa police charged Michael Joseph Oleksik, of Merritt Island, on Friday with criminal mischief nearly a month into the investigation of a disturbance…”
There is A LOT MORE to the story. They played me out like an idiot. I can assure you the only true words in these articles are “man” and “atm”
“There is A LOT MORE to the story.”
I suspected that there might be. When you’re able, it would be nice to hear your side of the story.
“I can assure you the only true words in these articles are “man” and “atm””
The truth is often in short supply these days, so I’m — sadly — not surprised.
I hope you have a good attorney, and I wish you the best.
Yes. We all get it. Man, savagely attacked by ATM. ATM, repeatedly, runs into man, over and over, causing it–the menacing and violent ATM–to incur $5,000 worth of damage. Poor, innocent man, blamed for crime.
News at 10:00 pm.
Hey, nutjob. . .if you are so innocent, why did you call and ask for forgiveness for what you did to the ATM? Hmmmm?
Yeah. And, don’t forget the word, IDIOT.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/presumption_of_innocence
He telephoned and took responsibility for the damage. . .apologizing for what he did. He confessed. The end.
bam bam: just another American hothead with all the answers
No, just an American, capable of reading and comprehending the facts. The individual, after committing the crime–and, yes, destroying property, belonging to another, is a crime, regardless of whether or not the property belongs to one of the big, bad banks, which has committed its own wrongdoings–telephoned and apologized for his actions. What part of that don’t you get? He confessed. He admitted that he had done something wrong by attacking the machine. No one is targeting him. No one is persecuting him. If that makes me a hothead, well, that’s fine. I’d rather be a hothead than a meathead, who can’t read and comprehend what has been presented.
As I said, “another hothead”…, and you’ve confirmed that you’re “a meathead,” too. You’re someone who buys what’s printed as “truth.” (This is to some cretin who calls himself (or herself) “bam bam.”)
Yes, and you are another sucker who would believe all of the prisoners, doing time, who, notoriously, claim to be innocent and framed. Yes. It must be fun to be that stupid and delusional. We should all believe that the ATM self-destructed, causing its own damage. . .we should all doubt the lunatic’s actions, which were surely caught on tape. . .and we should disregard the telephone call, made by the idiot, himself, where he apologized for flipping out and causing the destruction. Must be nice to live in la-la-land, where facts are irrelevant.
No, bam bam, some people just want to get all the facts before rushing to judgment.
You’re the one to whom facts are irrelevant. Newspaper articles never have all the facts that are relevant to a suspect’s guilt or innocence; if they did, we could do away with the courts and just have trial by news media. And D. Trump would have been impeached by now. But that’s not how we do things in this great country.
Of course we don’t have all of the facts. . .these articles never contain ALL of the facts. We read these articles and comment upon the facts that ARE presented–the ATM sustained $5,000 worth of damage. . .some hothead, was caught–presumably, on tape–going ape-sh!t crazy on a machine that malfunctioned. . .the individual, then, later, TELEPHONED and APOLOGIZED for his actions, where he damaged the machine in a fit of rage and try to excuse the actions due to his need to get to work on time. . .yes. . .we don’t have ALL of the facts. . .we never do have ALL of the facts. . .but the ones that we do have are pretty damning. I suggest that you never, ever comment, upon another article, since you do not have ALL of the facts.
Like the words of a past song-“that’s what friends are for …” Then -” that’s what facts are for”.
I think we need to wait until we have all the facts. (It’s not clear who you’re addressing. I have time to trace it back.)
He is surely a forward thinker. Dr. Sheldon Cooper notes the machine revolution will begin with the ATMs. He probably experienced it firsthand. Food processors could be next.
This is a golden opportunity to prevent future domestic abuse or worse: the guy is on a hair trigger and needs therapy, anger management and possibly medication!
I would say: shave and a haircut, six bits.
Was the ATM pulling too much from his account and deducting it? This might cause him problems with overdrafts etc Not an excuse for tearing up machine though
With but a few additional wrinkes, Mr. Oleksik’s actions would fit Pavlov’s model for experimentally-induced psychosis closely enough to qualify as temporary insanity. All you have to do is reconfigure the unexpected reward (free money) as an actual punishment (crushing debt as a result of predatory lending practices). Thus, in the heat of the moment, Mr. Oleksik temporarily lacked the mens rea necessary to realize that he would be held liable for the property damage to the ATM, since his mind was already overwhelmed by the prospect of having to pay interest on money that he had never intended to borrow. So he gave the stupid machine the damned god thrashing that it deserved. Jury nullification, too.
Wells Fargo pays employees to open the door for customers and hand them bottled water. I think they may offer coffee as well. I despise this.
The customers have to pay the salary of a man acting as door man with hospitality beverages. I hear a cash register every time the employee hands out a drink.
Meanwhile, the lines to the teller and customer service are languishing and long, of which the doorman seems oblivious.
I have at least one member of my family who insists on remaining with Wells Fargo out of sentimental reasons and habit, one I really wish he would break. On the few times that I’ve gone to Wells Fargo, I found the blatant waste of customers’ money, leading to excessive fees, and the poor customer service from long wait times to be frustrating.
And yet, I have not battered any machines, store front, or shrubbery…to date. I do not see your logic as to how frustration or worry would mean there was no mens rea for someone’s criminal or destructive actions. That would have to be a pretty significant heat of the moment.
That is just my opinion as a lay person.
Karen S. said, “I do not see your logic as to how frustration or worry would mean there was no mens rea for someone’s criminal or destructive actions.”
I can explain that, Karen. You see, humor subverts logic on occasion. Your cue should’ve been the phrase “predatory lending practices” in conjunction with the phrase “free money” from a bank. But then, perhaps your reply is an instance of droll humor. If so, then Late4Dinner is not amused.
P. S. I’m sorry to hear about your misfortunes with excessive banking fees for unwanted complimentary goods and services and the long waiting lines formed by the impecunious menial types that such perquisites attract. Bah humbug, indeed!
On the other hand, I think this is a defendable case. Wells Fargo caused the problem. They caused the frustration and they set up the customer in a situation of no return. I would want to see those bills for the $5000 in damages since I would guess the machine was dysfunctional before Oleksik hit it. Clearly, it was giving away too much money. Is Wells Fargo charging him to fix that problem, too? Or just the damage to the touchscreen? Right now, Wells Fargo has lots of legal problems of its own, it should not be casting stones. Certainly, once you get the bank on the stand you can blacken its name with 5 or 6 questions. And the nice thing is the person the bank will send is someone who may have been involved. 🙂 A good time will be had by all.
Arrest Wells Fargo instead.
David Benson – what crime are you arresting Wells Fargo for?
I would wait to drop charges until the restitution. I am with Darren on this one. It was not his fault he got too much money, however, Wells Fargo ATMs do not have a forgiving nature. His account will be charged for the amount.
The two big questions are: 1) how much damage can you do to an ATM and 2) how can I get my ATM to give me too much money?
” If Oleksik is willing to pay restitution, should this be a criminal matter?”
~+~
My experience shows the criminal charges should not be dropped at least at the initial stage. Most of the time, the offenders do not perform on their promise to pay restitution and the victim is forced to civilly collect damages and most often in that case the debt is uncollectable. With a criminal conviction, if the case advances to that point, restitution may be mandated by the court and failure to perform will result in contempt or probation violations and the defendant may be put in jail. This offers greater impetus for the defendant to pay.
If it appears probable the defendant will pay restitution, the prosecutor may delay prosecution and if the restitution is paid in full, then charges may be dropped.
From another perspective, stated frankly, an apology doesn’t cut it with many of these offenders. How do we know if the defendant had a moral epiphany and out of the kindness of his heart he wanted to make the bank whole again or, more likely, he realized he might have been video taped and along with his debit card transaction the jig was up and his arrest was inevitable. To forestall this, he called to apologize and accomplish the goal of escaping criminal prosecution. It’s the old classic “Are you sorry you committed the crime or sorry you got caught?”
It did not seem to me from what the news article reported that Wells Fargo at this stage was primarily interested as much in restitution as it was in pressing criminal charges. From that information alone we have an actual victim and if there is probable cause to arrest we should respect the victim’s decision and arrest the suspect.