Malfunctioning ATM Dispenses $37,000 in Cash to Homeless Man in Maine

A homeless man in Maine almost walked away with $37,000 in cash from a malfunctioning automated bank machine.

Officials say that the unidentified man had an ATM card and about $100 in his TD Bank account, however, he pressed the "cash advance" feature on the machine about 53 times to request $700. The ATM complied, but as he was stuffing the cash in a shopping bag, police showed up.

According to WGME-TV, South Portland police arrived at the TD Bank branch at about 5:30 a.m. on Thursday after a woman called 911 to report seeing a man was spending an unusual amount of time at the ATM she was waiting to use.

Lt. Todd Bernard of the South Portland Police Department explained that the cash advance option on an ATM is for people who have a pre-approved line of credit with a bank, which the homeless man did not have.

"It is illegal. He is taking money that doesn't belong to him, and the bank at this point has elected not to prosecute, although the case is still under investigation," Bernard told the Bangor Daily News. "That ATM has been taken out of service and is being checked out to determine why it malfunctioned."

The money was returned to the bank and the man was not charged since bank officials say they don't want to press charges. However, police will continue to investigate.

A bank official who described the problem as a "code error" said no customer accounts were affected, reports the Christian Science Monitor.