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Posted
7 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

There must be a steal expensive jewelry virus that's afflicting America. On another note, I need to sell salvation. Seems to be a profitable business.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-bishop-wife-robbed-400k-jewelry-heist-live-streamed-service-rcna39780

 

A Brooklyn bishop and his wife were robbed during a livestreamed sermon Sunday after armed assailants stormed the service and made off with around $400,000 worth of jewelry, New York City police said.

Bishop Lamor Whitehead was in the middle of delivering his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries church in Canarsie when three gunmen burst in around 11:15 a.m., the NYPD said.

Police said the attackers were believed to have taken around $400,000 worth of jewelry in total before fleeing the service on foot and entering a white Mercedes Benz. They were last seen traveling eastbound on Avenue D, police said.

I also heard about some doc in Chicago who had his Rolls stolen along with his $100K plus watch.

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Posted
On 7/24/2022 at 3:04 PM, Chopper said:

Yeah definitely an inside job...but the circle of those with inside info could be pretty large. Any of the vendors or their associates. Any of the event center employees at any of the destinations on the tour. Anyone who helped load the truck at one point or another. Heck, anyone who attended one of the shows and became interested to learn how the valuables were transported could have done it. The brinks guys are the most obvious sus but would also be the easiest to catch. It could be any other brinks co-workers too, current or past, if they were aware of the logistics. There's also the remote possibility that some random recognized it as a brinks truck somewhere along its route and decided to follow it and see if it was their lucky day.

Source: have watched a lot of detective shows.

We'll see how smart they are. Wouldn't be shocked if they end up catching the person because they were the only vendor that opted for significantly higher insurance on the shipment than normal.

Posted
57 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

There must be a steal expensive jewelry virus that's afflicting America. On another note, I need to sell salvation. Seems to be a profitable business.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-bishop-wife-robbed-400k-jewelry-heist-live-streamed-service-rcna39780

 

A Brooklyn bishop and his wife were robbed during a livestreamed sermon Sunday after armed assailants stormed the service and made off with around $400,000 worth of jewelry, New York City police said.

Bishop Lamor Whitehead was in the middle of delivering his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries church in Canarsie when three gunmen burst in around 11:15 a.m., the NYPD said.

Police said the attackers were believed to have taken around $400,000 worth of jewelry in total before fleeing the service on foot and entering a white Mercedes Benz. They were last seen traveling eastbound on Avenue D, police said.

image.png

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Posted
46 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

Why the hell is a pastor and his wife wearing (much less owning) $400K worth of jewelry at church? Joel Osteen isn't even that blatant about his grift. 

Was it all off of the pastor and wife, or did they rob the entire congregation?

Posted
52 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Was it all off of the pastor and wife, or did they rob the entire congregation?

I believe it's the pastor's (and wife's) job to rob the congregation.

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Posted
19 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Was it all off of the pastor and wife, or did they rob the entire congregation?

From reading multiple articles, the only people that were reportedly robbed were the bishop and his wife. 

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

you would think with that much stuff (shit even $10 million) they would at least have a trailing tail gunner car

shit with Brinks you would think they would have a car with 2 or 3 guys in it stationed somewhere away from the event center entirely and waiting for the truck to roll and then picking it up en-route and following it....that way it is harder for others that might be plotting to rip it off to immediately identify what car they might need to go after if they are going for an armed ambush

Posted
 
 

If there’s no camera showing the rear of the trailer, then yeah, it’s no big deal to mess with the back of a 53’ trailer.

I feel like surely they would have used something better than what truck drivers normally use. Because I can cut one of those off in less than 90 seconds.
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

It has been more than two months since the multimillion-dollar heist of jewelry from a Brink’s big rig at a Grapevine truck stop, yet key facts about the high-profile crime remain in dispute.

There’s debate about the value of the pilfered goods, for example, with estimates ranging from less than $10 million to more than $100 million. And questions are now swirling around the timeline laid out in a Brink’s legal filing and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department documents, which suggest an almost impossibly swift journey for the tractor-trailer.

This much is known: a Brink’s big rig loaded with the wares of jewelers participating in the International Gem and Jewelry Show departed the San Mateo County Event Center on July 11 for a storage yard about 370 miles south in downtown L.A.

From there, the players in the case disagree. Brink’s said in a lawsuit that its two drivers made the roughly 298-mile, late-night trek from San Mateo to the Flying J Travel Center in Lebec in about 2 hours, 4 minutes, even fitting in a stop along Interstate 5. To traverse that distance so quickly, the vehicle would have had to drive at speeds upward of 140 mph.

It would take more than four hours to drive the route while adhering to speed limits.

Jerry Kroll, attorney for the victim jewelers, who number more than a dozen, said that the sequence of events described by Brink’s “doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why aren’t we being told what happened here? This can’t be,” Kroll said. “Our clients deserve an explanation. The victims suffered a life-altering theft ... and they are given a set of facts that doesn’t add up.”

It is unclear whether the improbability of the timeline laid out by Brink’s and the Sheriff’s Department could be attributed to a simple misstatement or another mundane explanation. Similar caveats apply to questions about the timing of authorities’ response to the crime, in which thieves stole 22 bags of booty while, according to Brink’s, one of the drivers snoozed inside his vehicle’s sleeping berth and the other was getting food at the Flying J.

A Sheriff’s Department incident report reviewed by The Times said that both drivers told a deputy that their vehicle left San Mateo at about 12:01 a.m. — information also noted by Brink’s in a legal filing. At 2:05 a.m., the big rig arrived at the Flying J, and the driver went to get his meal, according to Brink’s. Upon his return 27 minutes later at 2:32 a.m., Brink’s said, the driver discovered that the 18-wheeler had been compromised. A news release issued by the Sheriff’s Department on July 18 said that the theft occurred during the same time frame.

The sheriff’s incident report, which was drawn from initial interviews with the drivers, said that deputies responded to a “vehicle burglary call for service” at the truck stop around 3:56 a.m. It did not say when the drivers alerted law enforcement, leaving unclear how much time elapsed between the crime, its reporting and authorities’ response.

Asked about the chronology, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Mileski said, “We are not prepared to provide updated information at this time,” though he noted that investigators with the department’s major crimes bureau had conducted in-depth interviews with all those involved.

Brink’s spokeswoman Dana Callahan said that the company is “continuing to work with the law enforcement agencies investigating this incident. We defer to those agencies on questions about their investigations.”

 

 
 

LEBEC, CA - AUGUST 23: The Flying J Travel Center, just west of the 5 freeway in Lebec, was the site of a Brink's truck jewelry heist last month. Photographed on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 in Lebec, CA. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Kroll said the most unlikely element of the chronology disclosed by Brink’s relates to the 18-wheeler’s journey as it approached the Grapevine. Brink’s has said that the vehicle stopped at the Buttonwillow rest area about 1:49 a.m. so one of the drivers could use the bathroom, and then continued on to the Flying J, reaching it about 16 minutes later. The Buttonwillow rest stop is about 55 miles from the Flying J. Covering that distance in a little more than a quarter of an hour would require driving at speeds upward of 200 mph.

“There’s no credibility to it,” Kroll said.

Recently, two Times journalists made separate car trips down that 55-mile stretch of the Interstate 5. One of the drives took 46 minutes and the other, completed in traffic that was at times very heavy, took 1 hour, 21 minutes.

The timeline was first disclosed in an Aug. 4 lawsuit filed by Brink’s against the affected jewelry companies, whose merchandise the company was transporting to the L.A. area for another trade show. The complaint is part of a wider legal dispute between the Richmond, Va., company and the jewelers over the size of the stolen haul.

The Brink’s lawsuit alleged that the pilfered items had a declared total value of $8.7 million — a figure it said was drawn from agreements signed by its jewelry business customers. The complaint seeks to limit any payout Brink’s could have to make to the jewelers to that amount, alleging they “substantially under-declared the value of their shipments.” (Some jewelers have said that they assigned their merchandise lower values than their fair-market costs to reduce shipping fees.)

 

 

The jewelry businesses later alleged in a lawsuit filed against Brink’s and other parties that the unnamed tractor-trailer drivers’ conduct was “grossly negligent” — and that “lax security” by the company allowed the theft to occur. The lawsuit for alleged breach of contract and additional claims said the jewelry companies’ merchandise was worth about $100 million. It seeks at least $200 million in restitution and damages.

The sheriff’s incident report, dated July 11, reveals new details about the heist.

Written by a deputy who arrived at the scene, the report said that the driver who dined at the Flying J found upon his return to the vehicle that its lock had been “cut away and the latches, where the lock once was, were bent. The lock was no where [sic] to be found.”

 

 

The sleeping driver noted that he “did not see who committed the burglary or hear anything unusual, or notice that they were being followed by anyone,” the report said. But, it said, the thieves left something behind: “metal fragments at the base of the trailer’s locking mechanism.”

The incident report said that the tractor-trailer’s cargo — which included gems, jewelry, watches and other precious items — was contained in “orange marked Brinks bags.” It also said that the blue 2019 Volvo big rig was “marked Brinks.” It did not note the presence of vehicle security features that jewelers and others in the industry have told The Times they expected Brink’s to have utilized when shipping valuable merchandise. For example, the report does not mention an alarm on the door of the Brink’s trailer or cameras anywhere on the vehicle.

 

Jewelry on display.

An evidence photo provided by the FBI shows a sampling of items stolen in the Brink’s heist.
(FBI)

 

 

Arnold Duke, president of the International Gem and Jewelry Show, said he “always thought there was” an alarm on the door, “but certainly never checked it.”

“I was under the impression that everything had satellite tracking, cameras, alarms,” he said.

Callahan did not respond to a question about the vehicle’s security features but has previously said that Brink’s does not disclose information on the topic because it could compromise operations.

 

 

Investigators believe that the heist was the work of sophisticated criminals, given the lack of violence and the speed of the thieves’ work, among other factors. Sheriff’s Department investigators, who are working with the FBI, have said that they have obtained video footage related to the incident.

 

Evidence photo provided by the FBI shows a sampling of the stolen items.

Jewelers say that their businesses have been upended by the loss of their merchandise. “For some of them, [the theft] has completely destroyed their financial lives,” Kroll said.

 

 

As for the vexed timeline, he said: “Brink’s has some explaining to do to the court — and to my clients.”

 

 

 
 
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  • 1 month later...
Posted

When Lifetime makes this into a movie in a few years, they'll probably just call it "The Inside Jewelry Heist"... and it's not going to be a who-done-it type movie.  

 I'll bet the cops have a pretty good idea who did it, but knowing and proving are two different things.  They're just waiting for some dumb-ass to give his wife a half million dollar ring for Christmas.  It's only a matter of time. 

 

 

Posted
1 hour ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

 

 I'll bet the cops have a pretty good idea who did it, but knowing and proving are two different things.  They're just waiting for some dumb-ass to give his wife a half million dollar ring for Christmas.  It's only a matter of time. 

 

 

But she opened that door and I knelt on the floor
And I put that ring in her hand
Then she said, "I do" and she'd leave with me soon
To the rigs out in South Alabama
 
Well, I told her to hide that ring there inside
And wait 'til the timing was good
And I drove back home and I was alone
'Cause I thought that she understood
 
The next night an old friend just called me to wish us both well
He said, he'd seen her downtown, sashaying around
And her diamond how it sparkled in the lights of loving county
 
Well that sheriff, he found me out wandering
All around El Paso the very next day
You see, I'd lost my mind on that broken white line
Before I even reached Balmorhea

 

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  • 2 years later...
Posted

Seven men face federal charges after authorities linked them with breaking into a Brinks semi-truck in Lebec in 2022 and stealing about $100 million in jewelry as it was being transported from near San Francisco to an upcoming jewelry show in Pasadena, authorities said.

The jewelry heist is considered the largest in U.S. history, said Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Some of the jewelry was found while search warrants were served on Monday, June 16.

The truck contained 73 bags containing millions of dollars worth of jewelry.

Two of the men were expected to make their initial federal court appearances Tuesday following recent arrests, according to federal authorities.

Six of the defendants were accused of following the Brinks truck from San Mateo for more than 300 miles to rest stops in Buttonwillow and Lebec, north of Los Angeles, from the evening of July 10, 2022 to the following morning, authorities said. They, along with others not named in the indictment, then allegedly stole 24 bags containing jewelry from the truck.

In the days that followed, five of the defendants allegedly deactivated cell phones they used during the heist.

The defendants are:

  • Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado, 31, of Pasadena,
  • Jazael Padilla Resto, 36, of Boyle Heights,
  • Pablo Raul Lugo Larroig, 41, of Rialto,
  • Victor Hugo Valencia Solorzano, 60, of Rampart Village in Los Angeles,
  • Jorge Enrique Alban, 33, of South Los Angeles,
  • Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, 42, of Upland, and,
  • Eduardo Macias Ibarra, 36, of the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Padilla Resto is currently in custody in Arizona serving a prison sentence for third-degree burglary with unlawful entry, McEvoy said. He was expected to appear in federal court in the coming weeks.

The status of the other six men was not immediately known.

All but Ibarra were accused of participating on the night of the heist, McEvoy said. Mestanza, Lugo and Alban were accused of scouting the Brinks truck as it left the international jewelry store in San Mateo.

Some of the men had participated in heists of electronics in the months leading up to the jewelry heist, authorities said.

Mestanza, Padilla Resto, Lugo and Valencia were accused of stealing more than $240,000 in Samsung electronics from an interstate cargo shipment in Ontario on March 2, 2022, McEvoy said. They, along with Alban, then allegedly robbed a box truck driver of more than $57,000 worth of Apple AirTags, with one of the robbers brandishing a knife and threatening the driver.

More than three months later, the defendants tried unsuccessfully to steal from one truck at a Fontana rest stop by using a crowbar to break in, McEvoy said. However, a short time later, they stole more than $14,000 worth of Samsung electronics from another shipment in Fontana, he said.

All seven men face two federal counts of conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment, and theft from interstate and foreign shipment in relation to the jewelry heist, McEvoy said.

Mestanza, Padilla, Lugo, Valencia and Alban face two additional charges of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, one count of interference with commerce by robbery and additional counts of theft from interstate and foreign shipment, he said.

If convicted of the additional charges the five men would face statutory maximum sentences of 20 years in federal prison for each robbery charge. All seven defendants would face sentences of 10 years for each theft charge and five years for each theft conspiracy charge if convicted.

 

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Posted
10 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Padilla Resto is currently in custody in Arizona serving a prison sentence for third-degree burglary with unlawful entry, McEvoy said. He was expected to appear in federal court in the coming weeks.

 

9 hours ago, crash_davis said:

Someone got picked up for something stupid and ratted out the others. I've seen this movie.

Si

Posted
On 6/17/2025 at 8:28 PM, crash_davis said:

Someone got picked up for something stupid and ratted out the others. I've seen this movie.

At least there were arrested alive instead of buying their wife a fur coat too soon after the robbery and..,

IMG_4760.jpeg.7d6d52ca5af248081882afbb87927337.jpeg

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Posted
1 minute ago, ClubWhatever said:

I imagine most of the jewelry is gone.  But not the houses, boats, and stocks bought with the hock.  Seize it.

Fucking idiots.  Steal $100 million?  You don't stick around.  You GTFO.

1ebae6b4-5310-41b4-9f44-3d00ccb142c2_tex

Posted
“For me, the action IS the juice.”
I tell ya, in a classic film full of great lines this gem isn't given enough credit.

It explains not just everything about Cheritto's character, it shines a revelatory light on all the crew.

Chris was broke (in every way possible) & needed the score. Neil didn't need the heat & every instinct told him to walk...but the action. Not the money. Not the final big heist. Plus the heightened juice of knowing Vincent & his entire crew were on to them.

Neil was so good even he couldn't resist breaking his one code.
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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

I tell ya, in a classic film full of great lines this gem isn't given enough credit.

It explains not just everything about Cheritto's character, it shines a revelatory light on all the crew.

Chris was broke (in every way possible) & needed the score. Neil didn't need the heat & every instinct told him to walk...but the action. Not the money. Not the final big heist. Plus the heightened juice of knowing Vincent & his entire crew were on to them.

Neil was so good even he couldn't resist breaking his one code.

 

 

Edited by Parliament
Posted
On 6/17/2025 at 8:18 PM, Gil Bang said:

Mestanza, Padilla Resto, Lugo and Valencia were accused of stealing more than $240,000 in Samsung electronics from an interstate cargo shipment in Ontario on March 2, 2022, McEvoy said. They, along with Alban, then allegedly robbed a box truck driver of more than $57,000 worth of Apple AirTags, with one of the robbers brandishing a knife and threatening the driver.

I'm no professional thief, but Apple AirTags seems like one of the last things I'd want to steal.

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Posted
On 6/24/2025 at 1:34 PM, Brisketexan said:

Fucking idiots.  Steal $100 million?  You don't stick around.  You GTFO.

$100MM is probably retail valuation.  what they can flip it for is a fraction of that. 

Posted
On 6/24/2025 at 6:59 PM, Redneck Mutha said:

I'm no professional thief, but Apple AirTags seems like one of the last things I'd want to steal.

Apple anything. That company tracks their products like no other company does.

But yes, all a detective has to do is care. 

"Hey Apple, do you have a few locations of the tag which were stolen?"

That's about all you need to do to find the buyer. He will reveal the seller, and that guy will reveal who sold it to him and so on...

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