Suspect Charged in Dipsy Doodles ATM Fraud

A Plainville man used a bag of Wise Dipsy Doodles Corn Chips to dip into an ATM cash machine on Farmington Avenue, said.

James J. Mangene, 40, of 13 Hardwood Road in Plainville, was arrested Monday on two counts of sixth-degree larceny and two counts of fraudulent use of an ATM, police said.

Mangene, who has a 10-year history of misdemeanor and felony arrests, was arrested early Monday by Hartford police near Park Road and Prospect Street, police said. He was turned over on a warrant to West Hartford police around 3 a.m.

Police said that on March 17, Mangene faked a $600 deposit into his account at a ATM machine at 962 Farmington Ave. using an empty Wise Dipsy Doodles Corn Chips bag.

Mangene then made three withdrawals totaling $450, police said. Two withdrawals were made minutes after the deposit, another at a ATM in East Hartford, police said.

Mangene was identified through the ATM's surveillance photos.

A security official at Farmington Bank, which notified police March 31, showed investigators “the empty Wise Dipsy Doodles bag used in the transaction and pointed out where the ATM machine attempted to date stamp it,” police said in an arrest warrant affidavit.

Mangene, who was on probation for a narcotics offense, was arraigned Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court and was held on bond set at $15,000, according to court records. He was scheduled for a plea hearing in Superior Court May 17.

It was unclear why Mangene used an empty bag of chips instead of a bank deposit envelope.