An American visitor who stole just over $100,000 from bank machines in transactions spanning eight days last summer has been sentenced to three years behind bars.

Derek Telles, 38, of California, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in October to stealing $100,070 — along with possessing the proceeds of crime, converting criminal property and transferring criminal property.

The court heard yesterday that $72,000 remained unaccounted for from his scheme, while $15,009 was recovered by the police and $10,000 was transferred off the island by the accused.

Telles spent $3,007 on several luxury items during the spree.

Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe said Telles showed no remorse for his actions, noting that he had informed the court that the stolen funds would be covered by insurance.

Mr Justice Wolffe said: “It seemed as if the defendant justified his conduct, particularly in attempting to convince the court that he did not cause any damage to Bermuda.”

He highlighted that Telles embarked on fraud within hours of landing on the island on May 27, 2025 — continuing until June 5.

Mr Justice Wolffe said Telles appeared “organised and focused in this nefarious activity”.

The court heard that the defendant was uncooperative with the police after he was apprehended — refusing to provide information about an unknown person who had dropped off a suitcase at the office of Bruce Swan, his lawyer.

A search of the luggage revealed about $12,000 in cash along with luxury bags, perfumes, an iPhone and an Apple Watch among other items.

Mr Justice Wolffe sentenced Mr Telles to three years’ imprisonment for theft and two years for each of his other offences, with the sentences to run concurrently and time in custody taken into account.

Mr Justice Wolffe also ordered that Telles divulge to authorities, within 30 days, whether he sent any additional stolen monies out of Bermuda and if so, by what means.

He said he had considered the defendant’s early guilty plea, along with his lack of prior convictions in Bermuda, but could offer no sympathy on the impact to Telles’s family from his incarceration abroad.

He added: “The defendant should have thought about his family when he got on a plane from California to travel all the way to Bermuda to commit the offences.”

He said the defendant’s wife had informed the court she was facing financial hardship.

However, Mr Justice Wolffe noted that the defendant had spent stolen money on several luxury items.

“These are not items that convey that his family had financial hardship,” he said.

During the trial, the court heard that images of a suspect were recovered from cameras at HSBC automated teller machines.

On June 4, a security officer noticed an individual matching the suspect’s description approach an ATM in Dockyard.

However, the machine was out of order, and the suspect left.

Hours later, at 8.15pm, officers viewing CCTV footage noted the same individual, now in different clothing, at the Rural Hill ATM in Paget and alerted the police.

Police found Telles, who showed the officers a Chase Bank card in his name. A search of his rented Twizy revealed a card reader on the floor.

Subsequent searches revealed slightly more than $3,000 in cash along with two MarketPlace gift cards and Brazilian and American passports with his picture but different names.

Immigration officials confirmed that Telles had arrived on the island on May 27 and had made two previous trips to the island in 2025.

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