In what is being labeled as one of the most significant cash heists in the annals of Los Angeles, culprits absconded with an estimated sum of up to $30 million during an Easter Sunday burglary at a money storage facility in the San Fernando Valley, a high-ranking L.A. police official disclosed on Wednesday.
The theft transpired late on Sunday evening at an undisclosed establishment in Sylmar, where funds from businesses across the region are processed and kept, as stated by L.A. Police Department Cmdr. Elaine Morales.
According to Morales, the burglars managed to infiltrate the premises along with the safe housing the money. Law enforcement insiders revealed that the breach ranks among the city’s largest cash burglaries, surpassing any previous armored-car heists.
Mystery Enshrouds Massive $30 Million Cash Heist in One of L.A.’s Largest Burglaries (Credits: KVUE)
The circumstances surrounding the break-in are shrouded in mystery.
Insiders familiar with the investigation disclosed that a burglary crew breached the facility’s roof to gain access to the vault. However, it remains unclear how they managed to circumvent the alarm system.
Furthermore, there were no apparent signs of forced entry when observing the safe from the exterior. The operators of the business, whose identities were not disclosed by the police, only discovered the massive theft upon opening the vault on Monday.
Promptly notified, authorities dispatched detectives from the LAPD’s Mission Division station to the crime scene to collect evidence.
Adding to the intrigue is the revelation that only a select few individuals would have been privy to the existence of such substantial amounts of cash stored within the safe, according to law enforcement insiders.
The break-in was described as intricate, suggesting the involvement of a seasoned crew of burglars well-versed in infiltrating secure facilities without arousing suspicion.
The largest previous cash heist in Los Angeles occurred on September 12, 1997, with the theft of $18.9 million from the former Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo Street. The perpetrators of that theft were eventually apprehended.
Sunday’s incident comes nearly two years after a multimillion-dollar theft of jewelry from a Brink’s armored truck at a Grapevine truck stop.
Jewels and valuables worth as much as $100 million were pilfered from the truck.
In that instance, the thieves made off with the loot at 3 a.m. on July 11, 2022, loading more than 20 large bags with jewelry, gems, and other items being transported from the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo to the L.A. area via the Brink’s tractor-trailer.
The heist occurred during a 27-minute interval when one driver was asleep in the vehicle’s sleeper berth, and another was dining at the Flying J, a sprawling truck stop located just off Interstate 5’s winding Grapevine in Lebec, Calif.
To date, the perpetrators of this crime remain at large.
