Pennsylvania man sentenced for using explosives to rob multiple ATMs

Philadelphia, Pa ( WJET/WFXP ) — A Pennsylvania man will be spending more than seven years behind bars along with other parts of his sentence after being convicted of using explosives to rob six ATMs in 2020 during a protest.

A Philadelphia judge sentenced 25-year-old Cushmir McBride, of Yeadon, PA, to 90 months in prison along with three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $417,463 in restitution and a $300 special assessment for setting off explosives near ATMs inside a Target, a Wells Fargo bank branch and Wawa stores.

According to court papers, McBride and two others were indicted for the robberies in April 2021 and again in January 2022 in a superseding indictment, eventually pleading guilty to maliciously damaging property used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive, aiding and abetting, as well as five counts of maliciously damaging property used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive.

Prosecutors said McBride and his accomplices, 25-year-old Nasser McFall, of Claymont, DE, and 37-year-old Kamar Thompson, of Philadelphia, committed the robberies during public protests against police killing Walter Wallace, Jr. that eventually spiraled into civil unrest.

“McBride and crew carried out a string of violent and dangerous crimes, looking to cash in with a bang,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Whether you rob a bank with a note, a store with a gun, or an ATM with an explosive, you’re committing a serious federal crime and should expect to be caught and prosecuted. As this defendant and his co-conspirators are learning, crime not only doesn’t pay, it can also cost you dearly.”

On October 28, 2020, the trio broke into a Target in Port Richmond and set off explosives near an ATM to steal money. They repeated the same method at different ATMs in Wawa locations around the city and one in Delaware on Oct. 31, Nov. 4 and another in a Wells Fargo in Dec. 2020.

McBride was also charged using the same methods to rob another Wells Fargo ATM on March 2, 2021. In total, the group stole an estimated $417,000.

Both Thompson and McFall pleaded guilty for their roles.

Thompson pleaded guilty to maliciously damaging property used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive, and aiding and abetting, six counts of maliciously damaging property used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in Nov. 2021.

In June 2022, McFall pleaded guilty to five counts against him. Then in January 2024, he was sentenced to 78 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $256,083 in restitution in January 2024.

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