At Texas judge has ruled that a sheriff’s seizure of funds from a bitcoin ATM was misguided in a case where a woman was tricked into depositing $15,000 at a bitcoin ATM.
In April, McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara’s department oversaw the seizing of $15,000 from a Bitcoin Depot bitcoin ATM at a fuel station where the woman was directed by scammers to deposit the funds after convincing her that her bank account was compromised. Law enforcement secured a warrant to seize the funds days after the 82-year-old woman told the sheriff’s office she had been scammed into depositing the funds at the bitcoin ATM.
Bitcoin Depot, which operated the machine, later filed a lawsuit seeking a return of the $15,000, claiming the sheriff’s department acted improperly in seizing cash from the machine and returning it to the victim.
“The seizure of the money at that time was an error based on a misunderstanding that the funds belonged solely to the Customer, not the Company,” McLennan County Judge Scott Felton wrote in a letter to Bitcoin Depot dated Oct. 3 provided to Vending Times. “Due to the timing of the communication and the return of the funds happening at the same time, the money was not maintained by law enforcement officials and, instead, was provided to the victim.”
“The release of the money to the McLennan County resident was based on a good faith belief that there were no competing claims for the legal interest of the money,” the judge wrote. “Officials later determined that it was premature to have distributed the money which was seized for ‘evidentiary purposes.'”
“The company diligently worked with McLennan County officials to reach a resolution in this matter,” the judge also wrote.
Sheriff Parnell McNamara did not return Vending Times’ email request for comment at the time of this report.
An attorney for Bitcoin Depot also did not wish to comment when contacted by phone at the time of this report.
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