Easter Sunday heist
| Date | March 31, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Location | Roxford Street, Sylmar, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 34°18′33″N 118°28′16″W / 34.3092904°N 118.4711922°W |
| Type | Burglary |
| Target | GardaWorld |
| Outcome | Upwards of $20 million stolen |
During the early morning hours of March 31, 2024—which fell on the Easter holiday—thieves broke into a GardaWorld facility in Sylmar, Los Angeles and stole upwards of around $20 million. It was one of the largest thefts ever perpetrated in the United States.
Incident
At approximately 11:30 pm on March 30, 2024 a burglar alarm was triggered at the GardaWorld private security facility located on Roxford Street in Sylmar, Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) service call for this alert—the latest in over a dozen similar calls from the previous twelve months at this location—was likewise dismissed as a false alarm.[1] Three additional service calls were triggered beginning at 4:30 am the following morning, which corresponded with Easter Sunday. Upon investigation, no suspicious activity was detected.[2] The break-in was first officially reported to the LAPD around noon.[3] It was only determined the following day that around $30 million was missing from the safe,[2][4] an amount that was later downgraded to upwards of $20 million.[3] Initially, officials suspected that thieves had made attempts to enter the building by breaking holes through the walls and roof, the latter of which was later determined to be the point of entry. Upon entering the building, which involved the use of tunneling,[3] the burglars were able to access the safe without triggering any alarms,[2] with apparently no signs of forcible entry to the vault area.[3]
The heist was one of the largest thefts in the history of the United States.[2] It surpassed the Dunbar Armored robbery—also in Los Angeles—in which six men stole nearly $19 million in 1997.[2]
Investigation
The LAPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly investigating the crime.[5] A resident of the adjacent Tahitian Mobile Home Park said that she heard a mechanical whirring sound which lasted at least two hours emanating from the GardaWorld facility during the early morning of Easter Sunday. A nearby convenience store owner reported that his shop's WiFi signal was inoperable for most of that day, leading to suspicions that the burglars may have used jamming equipment in order to disable security cameras.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Helmore, Edward (April 20, 2024) "Daring, Audacious – But Who Did It? LA $30m Cash Heist Has It All Except Clues" ProQuest 3042028079 The Observer. London. Retrieved September 5, 2024. (subscription required) "Based on records obtained by the celebrity/crime website TMZ, police had made more than a dozen callouts to GardaWorld in the past year that were logged as false alarms, including the day before the heist."
- ^ a b c d e Lagatta, Eric (April 24, 2024) "Burglars Made Off With $30 Million in Historic California Heist - Weeks Later, No One's Been Caught", USA Today. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Leonard, Eric (April 10, 2024) "'No Obvious Signs' of Entry Into Vault in Multimillion-dollar Cash Heist in Sylmar", NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ "This Los Angeles Heist Sounds Like It Came From a Thriller Novel - Thieves Stole $30 Million in Cash". AP News. April 4, 2024. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ Miller, Daniel; Winton, Richard (May 9, 2024) "GardaWorld heist: The Reason $30 Million Was In a Sylmar Warehouse and Not a Bank", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 29, 2024. (subscription required) "The Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI, which are investigating the burglary, have said little about their inquiry."
- ^ Miller, Daniel; Winton, Richard. "Neighbor Heard Odd Noises Amid Heist of Up To $30 Million From Sylmar Vault", Los Angeles Times via msn.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.