Multiple discarded ATMs found submerged in a Northeast D.C. creek have caught the attention of the FBI.
A Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson told News4 Wednesday that police are working with the FBI to trace the origin of the ATMs found in Watts Branch Creek.
Neighbors said they have been finding discarded ATMs along the creek in Marvin Gaye Recreational Park for some time and have taken to social media to complain about them in the river.
When News4 was at the creek, reporters saw trash strewn around the banks as well as another ATM, in addition to the two neighbors complained about.
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“This should be a place where people can go down and you know, maybe, take their kids, walk to the park, they shouldn’t walk past the ATMs though,” neighbor David Knots said.
The D.C. Department of General Services said they have found about 18 in the creek.
“DGS removed eight ATMs from Watts Branch Creek along the Marvin Gaye Trail in January. Tomorrow, DGS will remove the remaining ten ATMs, and MPD will be on site," D.C.'s Department of General Services said.
Not far from where the ATMs were found, a group of volunteers cleaning up the creek said they weren’t surprised to hear about the discovery.
“We find a lot of weird stuff, as you see, you find an ATM in the creek, we find a pay phone in the past, you know, a lot of crazy stuff,” volunteer Behnam Mehrabkhni said.
In December, the National Park Service began cleaning up hundreds of tires found in a wooded area right below Interstate 295 in Anacostia Park. Police continue to investigate who dumped those tires
