7 charged in connection with the ‘largest jewelry heist in US history,' prosecutors say
Crime
Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink
Follow
An elaborate scheme to stalk and rob truck drivers hauling millions of dollars of jewelry and other high-end merchandise has resulted in criminal charges against seven alleged co-conspirators, the Justice Department announced.
A newly-unsealed federal grand jury indictment provides insights into the massive theft of $100 million in gold, gems and jewelry from an armored truck in California in July 2022 — an operation prosecutors called 'the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.'
The federal charges announced Tuesday include conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and theft from interstate and foreign shipment.
According to the indictment, group members spotted a Brinks tractor trailer departing an international jewelry show in San Mateo, California, on July 10, 2022, and followed it south for nearly 300 miles.
When the driver pulled into a truck stop in the remote town of Lebec, about 80 miles north of Los Angeles, the burglars struck, allegedly stealing 24 bags containing the jewelry.
'I've been doing this professionally for 45 years and never have we had anything remotely close to this,' Arnold Duke, head of the International Gem & Jewelry Show, told CNN after the incident.
Sixteen merchants were affected in the theft, which included gemstones, Rolex watches and thousands of loose diamonds, some of which were priced close to $500,000 each wholesale, Duke said. Some custom, one-of-a-kind finished pieces were also stolen from the truck, he added.
Some of the stolen jewelry was recovered when agents executed a search warrant Monday, prosecutors said.
Two of the suspects were scheduled to appear in federal court on Tuesday, the Justice Department said, while a third is imprisoned in Arizona on a state burglary charge. CNN is not naming the seven defendants while attempts to reach their attorneys are being made.
Prosecutors said federal agents examined cell phone data as part of the investigation and noticed five of the suspects deactivated their devices following the heist. Authorities also described the crew as serial thieves who previously targeted other drivers.
In one alleged incident in March 2022, group members distracted a truck driver who stopped at a store in Ontario, California, while the vehicle was robbed of Samsung electronics. In another incident later that month, the group threatened a truck driver with a knife while robbing the vehicle of Apple products, according to prosecutors.
Five of the defendants are also charged with two counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and interference with commerce by robbery, as well as additional counts of theft from interstate and foreign shipment, the Justice Department announced.
If convicted, those five 'would face statutory maximum sentences of 20 years in federal prison for each robbery charge, and all defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the theft conspiracy charge and 10 years in federal prison for each theft charge,' the Justice Department said.
CNN's Stephanie Elam contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NYC Democratic mayoral primary enters home stretch
NEW YORK (PIX11)– For the first time since he was detained by immigration officials earlier this week, Comptroller and candidate for mayor Brad Lander was back at immigration court to try and help immigrants from being deported. After observing more detentions by ICE, a clearly frustrated Lander said more needs to be done to quote gum up the works. 'It's time for people to stand up and say we are not going to allow the deportation machine without due process,' Lander said. 'We are going to have to, in the tradition of nonviolent protest, find more and better ways not to allow our democracy to be eroded.' More Local News Lander is also calling on former governor Andrew Cuomo to instruct his Super PAC to back down from repeated attack against Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani said he has been in touch with the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force after repeated Islamophobic threats called into his government office, including a recent car bomb threat. 'If you design mailers that artificially lengthen and darken my beard, if you blanket the airwaves with language of me being a radical, if you put me in [traditional Islamic clothing] instead of a suit, it is not a surprise to see the threats that come,' Mamdani said. Mamdani was outside the NYC Campaign Finance Board, where he was petitioning for a last-minute rule change that would allow him to spend more donor money, due to the constant barrage of Cuomo Super PAC ads. He said Cuomo is trying to 'buy the election.' A spokeswoman for the Cuomo campaign says the former governor cannot legally direct a Super PAC to do anything. She said Momani is simply trying to change the subject from a discussion of antisemitism: 'Mr. Mamdani has a super PAC and a fringe party financially supporting his candidacy and smearing Governor Cuomo, and has been, potentially illegally, coordinating with other candidates to attack Governor Cuomo. This latest attempt to change the subject from Mr. Mamdani's inability to clearly and unequivocally condemn the use of the repugnant phrase 'globalize the intifada' are as transparent as they are desperate.' Meanwhile, the former governor was endorsed by the Daily News on Friday, and influential South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn was also endorsed. Finally, late Friday, City Council Speaker and candidate for Mayor Adrienne Adams said she would not cross-endorse, as Mamdani and Lander have done. She said she is still committed to defeating Cuomo and encouraged her supporters to rank the Working Families Party slate, which includes Lander and Mamdani. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
13 minutes ago
- Fox News
North Carolina woman sues former employer over Chucky doll prank she claims gave her PTSD
A former bank employee has filed a lawsuit against Truist Bank alleging discrimination and retaliation after she said a prank involving the doll Chucky exacerbated her anxiety disorder, according to several reports. Debra Jones claims in the lawsuit that despite knowing she had a fear of dolls, her manager placed a Chucky doll, "the doll that kills people," on her chair in her office, the New York Post reported. Jones claimed in the lawsuit that after the incident she was diagnosed with PTSD, saying she had shared her fear of dolls with her manager at a company cookout and that it affected her disabilities, which include generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder and the autoimmune disorder vitiligo, WRAL-TV reported. Jones claimed she was treated differently when she returned to work last year following two months of medical leave, accusing the bank of retaliating against her for needing to leave at 3 p.m. to treat her autoimmune disorder. After Jones returned to a new office and new manager she was "subjected to discrimination and retaliation based on her being a qualified individual with disabilities," according to the complaint. Her supervisors claimed that her coworkers "also needed time off," the lawsuit said, according to the station. Jones was let go in March after a manager told her she couldn't keep using her disabilities as an excuse, the lawsuit claimed, People magazine reported. Chucky comes from the 1988 horror movie "Child's Play," in which a dead serial killer inhabits a boy's doll and kills people. The lawsuit, filed in North Carolina in May, claims the bank violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Jones is seeking compensatory damages. Fox News Digital has reached out to Truist Bank for comment.
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man found dead on Westside Parkway identified
A pedestrian who was struck and killed on the Westside Parkway has been identified by the Kern County Coroner's Office. Zachariah Nathaniel Byrd, 36, of Bakersfield was found deceased in the 5800 block of the parkway at 6:23 a.m. May 3, the coroner's office said Friday. It is not know when he was hit. The Bakersfield Police Department previously reported there was evidence the case was a hit-and-run incident, and officers arrested Tomice Fryman, 51. Kern County Superior Court records show he was charged with second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit and run causing death or permanent serious injury and driving with a suspended or revoked license for DUI. He is next due in court Aug. 19 for a pre-preliminary hearing.
