7 California Men Indicted In 'Largest Jewelry Heist In US History'

Authored by Jill McLauglin via The Epoch Times,

Two of seven California men suspected of helping orchestrate the “largest jewelry heist in U.S. history” were ordered by a federal judge on June 17 to be detained until trial, a spokesperson for the local U.S. Attorney’s Office told The Epoch Times.

Prosecutors say the men were part of a modern-day highwaymen crew that allegedly broke into a Brinks semi truck and stole an estimated $100 million worth of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and luxury watches that were being transported from an international jewelry show near San Francisco in July 2022.

The robbery was considered to be the “largest jewelry heist in U.S. history,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Some of the jewelry was recovered when officers served search warrants on June 16, the prosecutors said.

The two men who appeared in U.S. district court on June 17 were Pablo Raul Lugo Larroig, 41, of Rialto, and Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, 42, of Upland, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

An indictment, received on June 11, charged seven defendants with two counts of conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and theft from interstate and foreign shipment.

The others were Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado, 31, of Pasadena; Victor Hugo Valencia Solorzano, 60, of the Rampart Village neighborhood of Los Angeles; Jorge Enrique Alban, 33, of South Los Angeles; and Eduardo Macias Ibarra, 36, of the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Also indicted was Jazael Padilla Resto, also known as “Ricardo Noel Moya,” “Ricardo Barbosa,” and “Alberto Javier Loza Chamorro,” 36, of Boyle Heights. Resto is currently an inmate in an Arizona state prison after he was found guilty of third-degree burglary with unlawful entry.

Mestanza, Padilla, Lugo, Valencia, and Alban were also charged with two counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and interference with commerce by robbery—a Hobbs Act violation—and additional counts of theft from interstate and foreign shipment, according to federal prosecutors.

Hobbs Act violations can lead to significantly stronger penalties, including up to 20 years in federal prison and substantial fines.

Federal prosecutors said that on July 10, 2022, Mestanza, Lugo, and Alban scouted a Brinks semi-truck leaving an international jewelry show in San Mateo, California, near San Francisco, with 73 bags containing millions of dollars in jewelry.

After seeing the armored truck on July 10, prosecutors say, Mestanza, Padilla, Lugo, Valencia, Presilla, Macias, and other defendants followed the truck about 300 miles from the jewelry show in San Mateo to rest stops in Buttonwillow and Lebec, north of Los Angeles.

When the truck stopped in Lebec, the defendants allegedly stole 24 bags of jewelry from it.

In the days that followed, Mestanza, Presilla, Alban, Lugo, and Valencia allegedly deactivated their cellphone numbers, which authorities say they used during the heist.

Mestanza, Padilla, Lugo, and Valencia also allegedly stole more than $240,000 worth of Samsung electronics from an interstate cargo shipment in Ontario, California, on March 2, 2022.

The same defendants, joined by Alban, then allegedly robbed a box truck driver of about $57,400 worth of Apple AirTags. One of the robbers allegedly threatened the driver with a knife.

On May 25, 2022, the defendants allegedly tried to steal from a truck at a Fontana rest stop using a crowbar to break into it, prosecutors say. Authorities allege that the same defendants stole about $14,100 worth of Samsung electronics from another interstate shipment in Fontana.

If convicted, Mestanza, Padilla, Lugo, Valencia, and Alban face statutory maximum sentences of 20 years in federal prison for each robbery charge. 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, according to federal prosecutors.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Fontana Police Department, and the Ontario Police Department are investigating the case.