Federal prosecutors characterized Tuesday’s jewelry theft as the biggest in American history, and seven men from Southern California were charged in connection with it.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for California’s Central District claims that the defendants, who are all from the Los Angeles area, stole approximately $100 million worth of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and luxury timepieces from an armored vehicle in July 2022.
According to a news release from the prosecutor’s office, they were charged last Wednesday with two counts of conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and theft from interstate and foreign shipment.
The defendants were named as follows:
- Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado, 31
- Jazael Padilla Resto, 36
- Pablo Raul Lugo Larroig, 41
- Victor Hugo Valencia Solorzano, 60
- Jorge Enrique Alban, 33,
- Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, 42
- Eduardo Macias Ibarra, 36
According to the prosecutor’s office, five of the men were also charged with two counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and interference with commerce by robbery.
On Tuesday, two of the men were scheduled to appear in federal court. According to the prosecutor’s office, Padilla is incarcerated in Arizona on a burglary charge.
It’s unclear if they have attorneys representing them.
According to a copy of the indictment, Padilla on July 8, 2022, scouted an international jewelry show in San Mateo, which is located just south of San Francisco.
According to the indictment, two days later, he and a few others followed a Brinks semitruck carrying 73 bags filled with jewelry worth millions of dollars from San Mateo to rest stops in Lebec, north of Los Angeles, and Buttonwillow, in the Central Valley of the state.
According to the indictment, the seven men took two dozen bags from the truck on July 11.
How they are thought to have gotten into the truck is not mentioned in the indictment. A request for comment was not immediately answered by Brinks or a prosecutor’s office spokesperson.
According to authorities, the group took the stolen items to East Hollywood after the alleged theft. According to the indictment, the majority of the defendants turned off the phones they had been using to discuss the heist in the days that followed.
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According to the indictment, the victims estimated that the stolen goods were worth $100 million.
According to the news release, when police carried out search warrants on Monday, some of that jewelry was found. It’s unclear what those things are worth. What happened to the remaining jewelry is also unclear.
Additionally, a number of defendants were charged with stealing nearly $60,000 worth of Apple AirTags and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Samsung electronics from interstate cargo shipments.
The prosecutor’s office claims that those thefts took place in 2022, prior to the jewelry heist.
