In one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history, thieves made off with as much as $30 million in an Easter Sunday burglary at a San Fernando Valley money storage facility. The burglary, which occurred at an unnamed facility in Sylmar where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored, was discovered when the operators of the business opened the vault on Monday. Law enforcement sources revealed that the burglars were able to breach both the building and the safe where the money was stored, making it one of the largest burglaries in city history in terms of cash stolen.
Mystery surrounds the break-in as very few individuals would have known of the huge sums of cash that were being kept within that safe. Sources familiar with the investigation said a burglary crew broke through the roof of the facility to gain access to the vault, but it is unclear how they avoided the alarm system. Additionally, from the outside, the safe showed no signs of a break-in, indicating that an experienced crew of burglars was involved in the elaborate heist. Detectives from the LAPD’s Mission Division station responded to the crime scene to gather evidence and investigate the break-in, trying to unravel the mystery behind the elaborate theft.
The break-in was described as elaborate, suggesting a crew of experienced thieves who knew how to gain entry to a secure facility unnoticed. This incident comes nearly two years after a multimillion-dollar theft of jewelry from a Brink’s big rig at a Grapevine truck stop, where as much as $100 million in jewels and valuables were taken. Thieves stole the goods from the truck during a 27-minute window while one driver was in the vehicle’s sleeper berth and another was eating a meal at the Flying J truck stop in Lebec, California. This crime is still unsolved, adding to the mystery surrounding major heists in the Los Angeles area.
The largest prior cash heist in Los Angeles occurred on September 12, 1997, when $18.9 million was stolen from the former site of the Dunbar Armored facility. The perpetrators of that robbery were eventually caught, indicating that investigations into major heists in the area can lead to arrests. However, the recent break-in at the Sylmar money storage facility remains shrouded in mystery as authorities try to determine how the burglars were able to pull off the heist without leaving any traces of a break-in visible from the outside. The total amount stolen surpassed any armored-car heist in the city, marking it as one of the largest cash burglaries in Los Angeles history.
The heist at the Sylmar money storage facility raises questions about the security measures in place at such facilities and the ability of experienced thieves to carry out such elaborate break-ins. Law enforcement sources indicated that only a select few individuals would have known about the large sums of cash kept in the facility’s safe, pointing to a potential inside connection. The LAPD’s investigation into the break-in continues as detectives gather evidence and try to piece together the events leading up to the massive theft on Easter Sunday. The case remains open as authorities work to solve the mystery behind the elaborate heist and bring the perpetrators to justice for this brazen theft of millions of dollars in cash.
