Newly-released video captured the moment truck security guards realized they had been targeted in a potentially record-breaking jewelry heist.
The heist took place about a year ago in July 2022. Exhibitors at a jewelry show hired Brinks to move the valuables from Northern California to Southern California.
During the road trip, while parked at a rest stop in Lebec, one of the security guards on duty was sleeping while the second guard was eating a meal inside the truck stop.
That’s when thieves seized the opportunity to grab nearly two dozen bags of vintage jewelry, gems and luxury watches from the tractor-trailer.
The owners of the jewelry said up to $150 million worth of merchandise was stolen.
Both Brinks and the victims have now taken legal action against each other following the heist, disputing the true value of the stolen merchandise.
The victims said they lost up to $150 million worth of goods, but Brinks said when the items were provided to the company for shipping, the owners valued them at less than $10 million at the time.
The jewelry heist could potentially be the costliest in U.S. history. The victims are now accusing Brinks of negligence and a breach of contract
L.A. County deputies’ body cameras captured the moments following the break-in.
“We had a lock on here and that’s gone,” a truck guard is heard telling a police officer in the body cam video.
The guard says although he didn’t think he was being followed, he felt as if he was being watched while he was at the jewelry show.
“Before they left and as you can see in the body cam footage, the guards noticed that there was at least one suspicious person that was really making them feel uncomfortable,” said Jerry Kroll, the attorney representing the jewelers. “It’s something that they actually mentioned to the sheriff’s deputies, yet they get on the road. They stopped at a Flying J [truckstop] and one guard is sleeping while the other guard leaves to get a meal inside the Flying J and doesn’t come back for 27 minutes.”
Kroll also claimed the truck that was being used to transport the jewelry was not armored as the company allegedly promised.
“My clients thought they were shipping the goods with an armored tractor-trailer with armed guards who were going to securely guard these goods,” Kroll said. “We find out the trailer was unarmored. It’s no different than a trailer that would probably haul groceries, tomatoes.”
Kroll says his clients and others in the jewelry industry estimate the value of the stolen property at around $150 million.
Brinks continues to dispute the stolen jewelry’s monetary value as investigators with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI continue working on the case.
Brinks released a statement on the incident saying:
“These jewelers are sophisticated and experienced. Those who undervalued their goods violated the plain language of Brink’s contract. It’s that simple.
Brink’s contract required the jewelers to declare the actual monetary value of the shipment: “You have properly and accurately described the Property in the Shipment and declared its actual monetary value both for carriage purposes (“Declared Value”).”
According to the information the customers provided to us before they shipped their items, the total value of the missing items is less than $10 million.
If these customers had accurately declared the value of their goods, Brinks would have implemented security measures commensurate with those higher transport values—and even in the event of a loss, we would have compensated the customers fully for their declared values.
We’ve held up our end and fulfilled our contract, settling claims with three affected customers.
The others have chosen to litigate, admitting under oath that they undervalued their goods, and even did so regularly. While we are deeply disappointed by this breach of our trust and the plain language of our contracts, the courts have responded favorably to our position, and we remain willing to compensate these customers for the declared value of their goods.”
No suspect descriptions or further details were released as the case remains ongoing.