Seven Indicted over "Largest Jewelry Heist in US History"
June 20, 25
(IDEX Online) - Seven men have been indicted over what prosecutors say is "the largest jewelry heist in US history" - the theft in July 2022 of goods worth $100m from a Brink's security van.
One guard had reportedly gone for food and the other was asleep in the front of the truck at the time.
They'd pulled into at a rest stop at Lebec, 75 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, at 2am.
The vehicle was on its way from the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, to an event at the Pasadena Convention Center, northeast of Los Angeles and was carrying 73 bags of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and watches.
According to the indictment by the US Attorney's Office, the suspects followed the security truck for about 300 miles, broke into while it was unattended, and stole 24 of the bags.
The indicted men are Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado, Jazael Padilla Resto, Pablo Raul Lugo Larroig, Victor Hugo Valencia Solorzano, Jorge Enrique Alban, Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, and Eduardo Macias Ibarra.
They have all been charged with conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and also theft from interstate and foreign shipment. Some face additional charges.
They are said to have deactivated their cellphones after the theft to evade detection, but authorities used cellphone data and surveillance footage to identify them.
Fourteen jewelry exhibitors, many of them small-time, mom-and-pop stores, lost merchandise in the heist.
At the time Jerry Kroll, representing the jewelers, said: "It looks like there was just a padlock on the back (of the truck). A padlock, two guards, one sleeping, the other inside, in our view not guarding the goods."
Pic courtesy FBI shows some of the stolen jewelry.