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Congratulations Ron Snively Below is an article concerning my good friend and former S.A.V.T.A. president Ron Snively. A very professional job, well done Ron.

Police in Conyers, GA, near Atlanta, are investigatisng a case of a toddler who walked into a bank vault on Friday, just as the timers activated, locking the little girl inside the bank vault. A technician was rushed to the bank, escorted by the police at a 90-mile-per-hour clip, to drill out the lock and rescue the child.

Apparently, the little girl and her mother were visiting the child’s grandmother, who is an employee at the Wells Fargo branch at GA Highway 138 and GA Highway 20, where the incident occurred. Deputy Chief Mike Lee of the Rockdale County Fire Department indicated that the little girl was freed from the vault at approximately 9 p.m., after three hours inside, “crying a little bit, but doing well,” reported television station 11Alive in Atlanta.

The incident occurred after the bank had actually closed, and customers had left the bank. At approximately 6 p.m., the grandmother and mother realized that the little girl had wandered off, and eventually realized she was inside the vault, when they heard her cries through the multi-layered steel door. Bank employees were able to access recorded surveillance video, and the little girl was seen walking into the vault just before the door closed and locked. But, Lee stressed that the toddler was not in immediate danger.

"There was plenty of air in the vault for a toddler like that," Lee said on 11Alive. "The size of the vault would provide air for a good, long time."

Jay Lawrence, a representative of Wells Fargo, also told the television station that the little girl had not been in danger, although she was frightened and upset. "The toddler was safe the whole time. We could hear her, she was crying, which was certainly understandable. There was plenty of ventilation throughout, I mean that was the most important thing. So what did we do? We drilled the vault."

Independent contractor Ron Snively was brought in by Wells Fargo to drill the safe and free the little girl. Snively is a “safe technician,” and understands how to drill such safes in the correct spot to release the lock. According to Snively, he drills approximately 20 bank doors a year, typically for malfunctions.

Conyers Police Chief Gene Wilson said that the incident will be reviewed, and it would be determined whether or not charges will be filed in the case, although he did indicate that they are not anticipated at this time.