A tractor driver plowed over a Hillsboro ATM early Tuesday, making off with a load of cash, according to police.

Hillsboro police said officers responded about 2:10 a.m. to reports of someone driving a tractor over a drive-through ATM at a Wells Fargo bank branch. The driver and a second person, who had been waiting in a U-Haul van, stole an undetermined amount of cash and drove away from the bank, 7200 N.E. Butler St., police said.

Officers tried to stop the van but ended their pursuit because of safety reasons, according to police.

Police responded a few minutes later, however, to suspicious activity reports and found the van abandoned on Aloclek Drive north of Evergreen Parkway.

The suspects were nowhere to be found.

The tractor used in the heist had been stolen from nearby Robinson Construction Co., according to a police spokesman.

McMinnville police said later Tuesday that a similar case unfolded in their city early Christmas Day. In that case, a stolen tractor was used to push the ATM off a concrete mooring and across a street, police said.

The ATM and tractor were abandoned at the scene, police said. They said they’re aware of the similarities between the two cases and have been in contact with Hillsboro investigators.

The McMinnville case remains under investigation.

— Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

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