Up to $30 million in cash vanished from a money storage vault in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley neighbourhood about 20 miles (30 kilometres) north of downtown Los Angeles, over the Easter weekend. The Los Angeles Times, which broke the story, reported that law enforcement sources rank it among the largest cash burglaries in city history.
The vault belongs to a GardaWorld location, according to media reports. Staff did not notice anything wrong until they opened it on Monday.
LAPD Cmdr. Elaine Morales told the Times that the burglars got past the building and also past the safe holding the cash. Sources familiar with the case said the crew cut through the roof of the building on Roxford Street. How they dodged the alarm system is not clear. One source said an alarm did go off at least once during the break-in, but it was not wired to local law enforcement. There was also an attempt to get through a side wall, another source confirmed. Aerial footage from local TV stations showed a big cut in the side of the building, boarded over with plywood.
Who knew the money was there?
Few people would have known how much cash sat in that safe, law enforcement sources told the Times. Investigators describe the burglary as elaborate, and as the work of an experienced crew that could enter a secure site without being noticed.
Scott Andrew Selby, co-author of “Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History”, said the job had “all the markings of a really well-thought-out job” by a “professional crew”. Based on other big heists, he said, the thieves probably had inside intelligence, and investigators will be “looking around the globe for crimes with a similar M.O.” Whether the cash can be traced depends on whether serial numbers were recorded or the bills are already in circulation.
Jim McGuffey, an armoured car expert and security consultant, called the theft “a shock”. A facility like this, he said, should have two alarm systems and a seismic motion detector on the safe, plus motion sensors through the building. “For that kind of money, you don’t just walk in and walk out with it,” he told the Associated Press. He added that GardaWorld has a good reputation, but that every cash management company has “isolated incidents like this that just make no sense.”
The LAPD and the FBI are investigating together and have asked the public for tips. On Thursday they would not confirm the amount stolen or name the company. A federal source said investigators were still trying to produce a full accounting of the missing cash. The Canada-based company had not responded to requests for comment.
The record it may break
The biggest cash robbery in Los Angeles until now took place on Sept. 12, 1997, when $18.9 million was stolen from the former Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo Street. Those thieves were eventually caught.
The Sylmar burglary comes nearly two years after as much as $100 million in jewels and valuables was taken from a Brink’s big rig at a truck stop in Southern California. No one has been caught for that one.
Sources
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