O’FALLON, Mo. – A suspected gang member is charged after allegedly stealing more than $94,000 in a crime trend called “bank jugging.” 

“Derived from the term mugging, but since a mug holds less, a jug is a bigger score,” O’Fallon Police Department Sgt. Bryan Harr explained. 

Pharrell Dembry and two others committed a jugging at the Bank of America on Fallon Loop Road in O’Fallon on Aug. 10. A fourth accomplice waited in the car. The crime happened while a repairman was working on the ATM. 

“The suspects had, while he was working on the ATM, pulled up, forced him on the ground, told him to lay there and indicated he had a weapon, and told him they’d shoot him if he moved,” Harr said. 

Dembry disabled a different ATM in St. Louis earlier in the day, triggering a call to the repairman, according to Harr. They then followed the repairman to different jobs until they got to O’Fallon. Once the repairman was working on the ATM at the Bank of America, suspects grabbed the money. 

The probable cause statement accuses Dembry of stealing more than $94,000. Bank of America declined to comment on the case but said people should use ATMs in well-lit locations and always be aware of their surroundings. 

While Harr has not seen bank jugging often in the area, but police believe Dembry is a part of a gang in Houston. Houston authorities have dealt with a number of these cases, causing the police department to issue warnings about it on social media. 

“The term jugging; it’s been a prevalent crime probably in the past 8–12 months, you’ve seen it,” Harr said. 

They believe Dembry came to St. Louis specifically to commit these types of crimes. He is now in custody in Houston for crimes unrelated to the ATM robbery. He was booked there last week on charges of DWI and evading arrest.

Police are still working to identify the other suspects involved in the crime in O’Fallon.