No Guns, No Witnesses And $100 Million Gone: How 7 Men Pulled Off US' Biggest Jewellery Heist

Last Updated:June 18, 2025, 23:39 IST

The heist took place on 10 July 2022 after the suspects scouted the armored truck leaving an international jewelry show near San Francisco.

The US attorney’s office for California’s central district revealed the charges in a news release on Tuesday. (Representative image)

Seven men in Southern California have been charged in connection with what federal authorities are calling the “largest jewellery heist in US history" after allegedly stealing neraly $100 million worth of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and luxury watches from an armored truck.

According to the indictment, the heist took place on 10 July 2022 after the suspects scouted the armored truck leaving an international jewelry show near San Francisco with 73 bags of jewellery.

The suspects trailed the truck for about 300 miles, eventually following it to a rest stop in Lebec, north of Los Angeles.

“While the truck was stopped in Lebec, those defendants stole 24 bags from the Brinks truck containing approximately $100 million of jewelry," the Department of Justice’s release stated.

Some of the jewellery has since been recovered, the US Attorney’s Office in California said Tuesday in a news release. Authorities said that in the days following the theft, several of the suspects deactivated the cellphones they had been using during the heist.

Two of the seven suspects have been arrested and were due in federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, court records showed. Pablo Raul Lugo Larroig and Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores were arrested Monday, and both have been indicted on federal theft and conspiracy charges, authorities said.

Four of them remained at-large Tuesday, while one of the suspects is serving prison time in Arizona for an unrelated burglary and was expected to appear in court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

All seven defendants, who are from the Los Angeles area, were indicted last Wednesday and have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and theft from interstate and foreign shipment.

Five of the suspects also face additional charges of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and interference with commerce by robbery.

Authorities have also alleged that several of the suspects are linked to other criminal activities. Prosecutors have claimed that several members of the group were involved in the theft of about $240,000 worth of electronics from an interstate cargo shipment in March 2022.

(With inputs from agencies)

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...Read More

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...

Read More

Location :

California, USA

First Published:

News world No Guns, No Witnesses And $100 Million Gone: How 7 Men Pulled Off US' Biggest Jewellery Heist