From The Los Angeles Times via Yahoo News, June 17:
It was a jewelry heist days in the making — one allegedly planned by thieves who had worked their way up to a major score after honing their covert craft in the parking lots and truck stops of San Bernardino County.
When they broke into a Brink’s big rig at a remote Grapevine truck stop in the dead of night three years ago, the men may have gotten more than they bargained for: a haul that could be worth up to $100 million.
That would make the theft of 24 bags containing jewelry, gems, watches and other precious items on July 11, 2022, among the biggest heists of all time.
All of this according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles against seven co-conspirators who allegedly carried out the theft at the Flying J Travel Center in Lebec, Calif. The men were each charged with conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and also theft from interstate and foreign shipment. Some face additional charges.
In all, 14 jewelers whose merchandise Brink’s was transporting to Pasadena were victimized that day. Several suffered grave financial losses, and some left the trade altogether. The merchants, many of whom are based in L.A., have been locked in a years long legal battle with Brink’s over the value of their pilfered goods.
“It was a long time coming, and there were times when the victims and members of the team wondered whether we'd see this success," Assistant U.S. Atty. Kevin Butler said Tuesday.
Some of the stolen jewelry — including watches — was recovered after search warrants were executed Tuesday. Authorities also recovered a large amount of cash. Butler said search warrants are still being pursued, and much of the stolen jewels remain missing.
But Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said he was “ gratified that we can finally begin to give answers to the victims of this massive theft and deliver them a measure of justice by holding these defendants accountable.”
Two of the defendants arrested are expected to appear in federal court on Tuesday. Another is an inmate at an Arizona prison, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which described the crime as "the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history." Ranging in age from 31 to 60, the men are all L.A.-area residents, hailing from neighborhoods including Boyle Heights, Westlake and Rampart Village.
The co-conspirators, some of whom use aliases, 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.
Some of the defendants have also been charged with smaller heists throughout San Bernardino County.
If convicted, Mestanza, Padilla, Lugo, Valencia and Alban would face up to 20 years in federal prison for each robbery charge. All the defendants would face up to five years for the theft conspiracy charge and 10 years for each theft charge.
Their planning of the Brink’s heist allegedly began at the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo, where, starting on July 8, 2022, jewelers displayed their baubles in booths under the glare of fluorescent light. Prosecutors allege that Padilla spent days casing out the show.
On July 10, Mestanza, Lugo and Alban allegedly scouted the Brink’s semitruck, which was loaded with 73 bags containing the jewelers’ wares, according to the indictment. When the big rig departed the San Mateo County Event Center that night, it touched off a complex choreography that culminated at an Interstate 5 truck stop about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.
This account is drawn from the indictment and previous reporting by The Times, which has extensively covered the crime, widely known as the Brink’s heist.
The semitruck’s departure from the event center around 8:25 p.m. triggered a series of phone calls among some of the defendants, the indictment said. Through the night, several of them allegedly followed the southbound Brink’s truck, which was piloted by one driver while another dozed in the vehicle’s sleeping compartment. It traveled on the I-5 for about 300 miles, pausing at a rest area in Buttonwillow before pulling into the Lebec truck stop at 2:05 a.m. on July 11.
When driver Tandy Motley left the semitruck to get a meal inside the Flying J, the thieves made their move.
They’d have 27 minutes to pull off the heist....
....MUCH MORE
There's an interesting little wrinkle after the jump.
