Magnet fishermen discover stolen safe and ATM linked to New Orleans bar robbery - gulflive.com

Louisiana magnet fishermen pose with a stolen safe, recovered from a canal in New Orleans East. Carrollton Station owner Will Wilson, pictured in the white Saints jersey, gives the thieves a one-finger salute. Will Wilson

Three months after $15,000 in cash was stolen from Carrollton Station in a swift and still-unsolved burglary, bar owner Will Wilson feels one step closer to closure.

And he has four New Orleans treasure hunters and one very strong magnet to thank for it.

“Somehow, this feels like the perfect end to our story,” Wilson says.

On Sunday, Sept. 15, Louisiana magnet fishermen and Youtubers Bryce Nachtwey and Joseph Harrick were dredging an oversized magnet through a canal in New Orleans East when they latched onto something heavy: a rusted safe, evidently sawed open.

As they pulled the hunk of metal to the surface, they realized the cash was gone, but several Lucky Coin casino vouchers remained inside.

The fishermen were on a roll: Three days earlier, they’d found a gutted ATM in the same spot. Although the discovery was immediately reported to police, it was the fishermen who managed to connect the dots to an earlier crime.

“It’s hard to see, but (the voucher) looks like it says ‘Carrollton Station,’” Harrick says in the YouTube video, speaking to a Lucky Coin employee over the phone.

“That’s where it’s from. There was just a robbery,” the operator responds. “Someone broke in and stole his safe and ATM.”

“No! We found his ATM, too!” Harrick exclaims.

Several months earlier, in the early hours of June 24, two masked thieves broke into Carrollton Station. First they jimmied past a cast-iron security gate, then popped open the dead-bolted door and slipped inside.

After disabling the security system, the burglars managed to drag a 100-pound safe and the ATM to their getaway car, making away with $15,000 in less than seven minutes.

Then, apparently, the burglars dumped the evidence in a canal.

On June 24, 2024, the floor of Carrollton Station is visibly damaged where two masked burglars uprooted an ATM.Will Wilson

After being dumped in a canal in New Orleans East, the stolen and water-logged safe has been returned to its rightful home.Will Wilson

“When I came in the next morning and saw the wires cut, my heart was just pounding,” says Will Wilson, the bar’s owner. “Since then, it’s definitely been a journey.”

The circumstances of the safe’s recovery have provided Wilson some much-needed comedic relief, after a summer spent recovering from the brutal loss. On Sunday, the fishermen’s arrival was the cherry on top of an unexpectedly blissful afternoon.

“First, I watched the Saints destroy the Cowboys, which was amazing, and then these guys show up at my door,” he says. “It was a great day.”

After finding the safe, the fishermen waited three hours for police to arrive, before eventually canceling the call and returning the stolen goods themselves.

In exchange for the mangled piece of metal, Wilson awarded each of the four good Samaritans a $100 bar tab. Of course, he joined them in a round of celebratory shots first.

“All you can do is move forward and, you know, the way that this chapter closed, it feels perfect. It could not have ended any better than it did on Sunday,” he says.

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While the returned inventory doesn’t hold any monetary value, Wilson is grateful to walk away from the experience with several new friends.

As for the safe, it’s earned a new spot at Carrollton Station.

Wilson plans to professionally bronze the metal until it’s gleaming, then mount it to the wall like a museum piece: “It’ll be our final homage to this whole ordeal.”

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